Tales Untold
by darkling59
Summary: A ficlet collection of character introspections, alternate universes, potential futures, and other odds and ends. Gwen and Ianto deal with some Torchwood-y problems... finally complete!
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Tales Untold

**Rating:** G-PG

**Spoilers (in this chapter): **None

**Characters (in this chapter): **Gwen, Suzie

**Archived: **LJ and FFnet

**Disclaimer: **Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.

**Warnings: **I like Gwen AND Ianto. If you're totally against either character then this isn't the story for you.

**Summary: **A ficlet collection of unconnected character introspections, alternate universes, potential futures, and other odds and ends. This chapter: the changes in Gwen's life outside of Torchwood and the _real_ first encounter between Suzie and PC Cooper.

* * *

**Prompt 1 – Tired**– WC 120 – 6/08

These days, Gwen can never get enough sleep. It seems like as soon as her head touches the pillow, Jack is pulling her out of bed for some alien emergency or other. She knows it is a necessary evil, and one she signed up for when she chose to work for Torchwood, but she never seems to get used to it.

Worse, Rhys can not understand why she is being called away for so many emergencies.

Every time Jack stops by at 2am or sends her a text message during an intimate moment, a little more of Rhys' trust in their relationship dies.

And every single time, Gwen feels a little more of herself and her life die with it.

**Prompt 2 – Here** – WC 248 – 6/08

When Suzie first met Gwen, it was nothing special. The local constabulary constantly managed to stumble into situations out of their depth and most of its members had been retconned at least once. In this case, PC Cooper somehow managed to stumble across a Torchwood crime scene, a bad one, and Jack had no time to track her down. He was too busy dealing with eviscerated corpses and the creature that had caused them.

So he sent Suzie.

It turned out that Gwen had not run far; in fact, she hadn't made it half a block before her nausea from the crime scene had her losing the contents of her stomach in an alley.

Suzie felt a sort of contemptuous amusement at the innocence reflected in the woman's manner and did not even bother to be careful when she arrived. Somehow it just seemed ridiculous that Gwen might actually use the gun at her belt, even in fear. Instead, she approached as she would a scared animal, with quiet words and soothing sounds.

When Gwen allowed her to approach, Suzie offered a water bottle 'to help rinse the taste away'. Accepting the small kindness without a second thought, the constable took a liberal sip of the heavily retcon and sedative laced liquid.

Ten minutes later, she was out like a light, no questions asked of or by the Torchwood agent.

Suzie did not even learn her name until much, much later.

And by then she no longer cared.

* * *

_Commentary: Prompt 1_

_This is the first drabble I wrote for the table and I'm still somewhat proud of it; not sure why, normally this tense is too passive for my tastes. But I like it and I think it illustrates how Gwen's non-Torchwood life was falling about during Season 1._

_Commentary: Prompt 2_

_I know a lot of people hate Suzie because…well, because she's an insane murderer. But I'm of the belief that she was not always insane and that there was once a really good person beneath her broken shell. After all, it takes someone who cares to use the glove. There are several prompts dedicated to Suzie in this collection; first person and third person, pre and post death. They aren't overwhelming or anything; 4 or 5 out of 50; but I like her character. Also, this is not a Gwen-bashing attempt; to Suzie who has been around death and horror for so long, she would seem like an innocent.  
_

--

**Author's Notes: **This fic collection is sort of a pet project of mine. XP It started as a 50 prompt strong drabble collection but after the first five or so installments I realized it would be impossible to keep myself down to 100 words per prompt so it became a ficlet collection.

I've seen the first half of season 1 and random scattered episodes as they've become available; they inspired the first half of the ficlets. The second, larger, half of the project was inspired by _The Stolen Earth _and _Journey's End. _I can't wait for the _Children of Earth _installment to come out!

Oh, yeah…one thing I forgot to say that is very important: No Character Bashing Comments Will Be Tolerated. If you don't like a specific character then either keep it to yourself or, if it's actually relevant in some way (I can't imagine how it would be), make an _intelligent _comment about it. And I like both Gwen and Ianto so I'm not going to sympathize either way. In fact, most of these ficlets are centered on Gwen, Ianto, Jack, or a non-romantic combination of the characters

Seriousness over, my favorite character are Gwen and Ianto followed by Suzie, Tosh, and Myfanwy. My least favorite characters are Owen and John followed by Jack. However, Jack has been steadily moving up the scale as I get to know the character so he'll probably become a favorite pretty soon. My original impression was what I got from _Everything Changes _when Jack acted selfish and egoistic; when he had the gall to take control over Gwen's life by slipping her retcon, it really bugged me. But he's become personable since so…yeah. Owen has stayed low because…well, using his words, he's a twat. John is just John.

Further commentary in later chapters, if you care. XD

---

**Format of Future Chapters: **There are 50 ficlets pre-prepared, centered on prompts taken from a specific song. Two are going to in each chapter and the chapters are going to be posted separately; if enough people are interested (say 5-10 reviewers per chapter) I'll try to post a chapter every day or every other day but if people aren't interested then I'll do it when it's convenient (every two or three days for 3-5 reviews and probably once a week, subject to change, for any less). Hmmm…Oh! There will be mechanics (like this section, with bold titles) at the top of each chapter and 2-3 sections of italicized commentary at the bottom (one for each prompt, one for author notes).

**Contests: **Okay, so this is just a random bid to fill up my prompt table because there were two boxes left after I found the fifty words I needed. Two chances are available to win and the contest winners get to suggest a prompt each as well as a few words saying what they'd like me to write about.

**(1) **is to guess the song whose lyrics I used to choose my prompts. It isn't too hard since the words are roughly in the order I found them in but I don't think it's a very popular song. Once somebody guesses it, I'll tell you all how and why I chose it. If you'd like to enter this contest, send me a message or a review with the title of song and who it's by.

**(2) **is to find references to a slightly obscure crossover series that I made in several different prompts. It shouldn't be too hard if you've seen the other series: if you haven't, but you're into the genre, then you've probably at least heard of it. It IS **NOT **Doctor Who OR the Sarah Jane Adventures. In my mind, since they're part of the same canon universe, shuffling characters between series doesn't count as a crossover. If you'd like to enter this contest, email me the name of the crossover series and the references you found.

If you win either contest then I'll post a note at the beginning of the next chapter listing your name and your answer. The prompt you choose will be kept hidden until chapter 26, when it will be used for prompt 51 or 52. If no one wins then I'll fill the chapter with whatever I've got in my ideas folder.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: **Tales Untold**  
Rating:** G-PG**  
Spoilers (in this chapter): **None**  
Characters (in this chapter): **Suzie, Jack, Tosh**  
Archived: **LJ and FFnet**  
Disclaimer: **Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.**  
Warnings: **angst? Divergence from canon?**  
Summary: **A ficlet collection of unconnected character introspections, alternate universes, potential futures, and other odds and ends. This chapter: Suzie's first alien encounter and Tosh's introduction to Torchwood (AU since _Fragments _so no spoilers)

--

**Prompt 3 - Suppressed **– WC 344 – 6/08

During her time in Torchwood, Suzie was forced to suppress her conscience and morals.

Once, she had been normal, an idealist even. She'd felt that killing was wrong, there was value in life, and good deeds would be rewarded in their own time. She became a member of Torchwood because she wanted to help save humanity from 'the alien menace', a vague idea that didn't really mean much other than 'obscure threat' at the time.

Then she had met Jack. At first, he seemed like the perfect leader and the poster boy for everything she believed in. He might have been a bit showy and flirtatious but somehow that only added to his charm.

In the beginning, she fancied him.

That lasted up until she met her first true alien.

It was a small but vicious animal somewhat resembling a forest green German Shepherd with four inch fangs, a poison barb on its tail, and six claws on each paw. When the creature had finally been neutralized and confined to the cells, Jack went to interrogate it. Suzie was ordered to stay behind but, chafing at the supposed assumption that she couldn't handle meeting the creature face to face, she decided to watch on one of the screens upstairs.

She watched and she learned. She learned that the 'monster' was a baby, lost and frightened, that its mother had been killed by hunters on accident when they mistook her for a wild animal. She learned that killing was the only way the frightened child could survive. And she learned just how much a sentient life form could scream in agony when Jack did not believe what it was saying.

It did not matter that, eventually, Jack was proven right and the alien really was a homicidal monster, albeit one good at acting, _not _a child.

After that day, she could never enter the cells without being haunted by the memory of a child in agony, screaming for its mother. And she could never look at Jack's smile without seeing the darkness in his eyes.

**Prompt 4 - All **– WC 300 – 6/08

Tosh joined Torchwood because she was too much for anyone else to handle. Too smart, too clever, too withdrawn, too shy, too awkward…she inevitably managed to find something out that her employers didn't want her to. And when they tried to restrict her access, she became bored and got into trouble.

Considering the sorts of things she was capable of, trouble was never a small incident.

Jack actually found her after one of these incidents; bored with her duties, she had managed to hack her way into the Torchwood 3's mainframe. She thought it was a joke (aliens? In Cardiff?) until some very scary men appeared at her door and demanded she accompany them.

It was five or six hours before Jack came to speak with her and when he did, he obviously had an agenda, and not a very nice one. He flashed a smile and introduced himself then asked her two or three simple questions.

Then she babbled.

She babbled about how sorry she was, about what she'd read, about her life, about her work, about family and friends…anything and everything.

Jack simply sat there with a half stunned, half amused look on his face and allowed her to babble herself out.

When she had nothing left to say and finally fell silent; it must have taken at least half an hour; Jack stared at her expressionlessly for a moment, then left.

When he came back, he told her she had two choices; take the retcon and go back to work or become a member of Torchwood.

Intrigued by what she had read, and hoping there would actually be enough to keep her interested and occupied, she agreed to become a member of Torchwood.

To this day, she is still not sure if it was the right decision.

--

**_Commentary: Prompt 3_**

_I like exploring Suzie's past; who knows why. Based on her actions in the first episode, I think she was a good person before she went insane. Torchwood was just too much for her._

**_Commentary: Prompt 4_**

_This was my answer to Tosh's past. Since I came up with it before hearing about _Fragments, _it is totally AU. I don't really like it, but it's what came to mind for the prompt so I included it._

--

**Author's Notes: **_Looking back on these drabbles, I'm less than proud. What on earth prompted me to use that sort of past tense so much?_

_Thanks for your review, MakeLoveNotSense!_

_I would have gotten this chapter up sooner but finals reared their ugly heads. Also, there really wasn't much of a demand. I'm going to stick to the update schedule mentioned in the first chapter._

_If you're interested, the contest guidelines and other stuff are in the first chapter; check them out._


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: **Tales Untold**  
Rating:** G-PG**  
Spoilers (in this chapter): **None**  
Characters (in this chapter): **Ianto, Lisa, Jack, Gwen, Owen, Tosh**  
Archived: **LJ and FFnet**  
Disclaimer: **Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.**  
Warnings: **angst? Divergence from canon?**  
Summary: **A ficlet collection of unconnected character introspections, alternate universes, potential futures, and other odds and ends. This chapter: Ianto's innocence gradual fractures under the strain of his secret and Jack contemplates how easy it is to manipulate fear.

--

**Prompt 5 - Childish **– WC 216 – 6/08

Innocence is a betraying trait.

Most see it as childish, a characteristic of the young before they become jaded. When seen in an adult, it will elicit soft smiles, amused headshakes, and occasionally snickers and mutters.

No one ever considers just how painful it can be for the bearer, or how agonizing when it is ripped away. Or how completely this can be done.

Torchwood is a driving force in destroying innocence.

Ianto joined Torchwood directly out of the university. He was young and enthusiastic, bursting with pride at having been picked. Then he met Lisa and his universe seemed to become even brighter; he could not fathom how anything could hurt them or their happiness.

Then the cybermen came.

No one knows Ianto saw Lisa go through 'the Procedure', that he was next in line to be converted when she was finished. He never thought to admit that he didn't escape from the cybermen, that they simply did not have time for him. The majority of his innocence died when they chose Lisa over him and he was forced to watch as they tortured her into becoming one of their own. The rest was stripped away when he held her lifeless body in his arms, so many months later after so much pointless, heartbreaking hope.

**Prompt 6 - Fears**– WC 467 – 6/08

Fear is a constant throughout the universe, Jack has found. No matter how strange or different a species is, it will always be afraid of something. Humans are no different.

He knows how to play on the fears of his team, how to influence the primordial ape nature that is always hiding somewhere far beneath the civilization in each of them. Most of the time, it is hard to draw it out. But he has practice, a lot of practice.

Gwen is the easiest, with her slight empathic abilities. She feels for everyone and everything, a weakness and a strength that Jack often exploits. He knew how to control her fear before ever truly meeting her, knew that threatening friends and family or playing with her feelings would force her to lose control. She is aware of his knowledge and abilities but ignores it most of the time out of blind trust. Jack is unsure if she has misplaced her trust or not.

Owen is also easy because Jack has met many people, not all of them human, much like him. They were all abrupt and borderline offensive, keeping others at bay with harsh words in order to keep their deepest selves hidden and protected. The fear of being hurt and abandoned, of someone they care for doing something unimaginable, keeps them from caring at all. With the right information, Jack is able to penetrate this shield and manipulate the man beneath the blustering mask. Owen also tends to ignore the fact that Jack can play him like a fiddle, but in his case it is because he knows there is nothing he can do about it.

Tosh is slightly more difficult because her personality is not as forceful as the others. Everything she feels is tempered by the practical knowledge all engineers and scientists seem to possess. Mortal danger does the trick, as do strong emotions. Jack cannot manipulate her like the others because doing so would be too obvious and carry too much evidence. She is oblivious to his knowledge and trusts him as she would any superior.

Ianto is hardest of all of them for Jack to read. For the longest time, he was rebuffed by a poker face even better than his own. So much so, in fact, that he began to think Ianto didn't have any buttons to push and his fear was as private as the rest of his life.

Then came the cyberman incident (Jack refuses to call the creature Lisa). When Jack found out just how dark Ianto's soul can be, how much he was keeping hidden away, and how close to the surface his deepest nature was, he was shaken to his very core.

Despite all of his manipulation and future knowledge, he really knew nothing at all.

--

**_Commentary: Prompt 5_**

_I don't like this one very much. It was my first attempt at Ianto characterization and I have to say that it fell short._

_Poor Ianto._

_I wrote this drabble after watching the first half of TW season 1 and I guessed at all the Doctor Who references (I haven't been able to get a hold of that episode and, honestly, I'm not sure I want to)._

**_Commentary: Prompt 6_**

_I like this one a bit better. (I was going through an angsty month, can you tell? XD). It was inspired by a drabble I read somewhere about Jack being an interrogator in the past/future. I honestly don't remember much about that ficlet but I don't think it resembles mine much._

_I hope I pegged the characterization in this one; it feels better than prompt 5._

--

**Author's Notes:**

_Thanks again for your review, MakeLoveNotSense! I'm gradually getting these things up._

_I've sort of fallen out of the whoniverse fandom at the moment; it's ridiculously hard to get episodes while I don't have a real television. Doctor Who is better than Torchwood because I got season 4 as a gift (score!) but I don't have time to watch it (mrgh)._

_But I'm still looking forward to the new TW season! I read on Wikipedia that it's called 'Children of Earth' which sounds AWESOME. I'm not so stoked about David Tennent leaving Doctor Who but I'm holding on to the hope that he might make guest appearances as 'Handy'._


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: **Tales Untold**  
Rating:** G-PG**  
Spoilers (in this chapter): **None**  
Characters (in this chapter): **Jack, Suzie**  
Archived: **LJ and FFnet**  
Disclaimer: **Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.This chapter: the first line of prompt 8 doesn't belong to me either although I'm not positive where I got it from. Well, whoever it was, it's not mine.  
**Warnings: **angst? Divergence from canon?**  
Summary: **A ficlet collection of unconnected character introspections, alternate universes, potential futures, and other odds and ends. This chapter: Jack realizes something he really should have known all along and Suzie's innocence takes another blow.

--

**Prompt 7 - Leave **– WC 145 – 6/08

To be left behind is to be abandoned.

Jack did not know this when he decided to join the TARDIS and its passengers on a trek to the end of the universe. Looking back, he should have realized it. After all, he'd been abandoned before, hadn't he? Left to live and die on his own in an abandoned space station, to wake up to a reality so different, so much bleaker, than he remembered from just hours before.

He knew the torture of abandonment, even if it was forced abandonment.

And yet, he never even considered those he left behind, not until he returned, expecting everything to be as it had been before.

But it wasn't. And it was far too late to draw the distinction between temporary and permanent, abandonment and neglect.

Because, to those that really mattered, the distinction didn't make a difference.

**Prompt 8 - Wish **– WC 177 – 6/08

_If wishes were fishes, we'd have a lakeful_.

Suzie stared at the words, dully amused at the double truth they conveyed. A day, possibly even simply a few hours, before she would have laughed and shaken her head at such nonsense.

It didn't look like nonsense anymore.

Torchwood's most recent case included what appeared to be a giant Atlantic salmon that glutted itself on the psychic wants and needs of the populace, draining the emotional and psychological energy from its prey. Wishes were its favorite delicacy and it had realized quickly that the more energy it drained, the more people wished for. After all, who wants more than those who are mentally capable but still starving?

Jack had eventually managed to come up with a plan capable of trapping the creature that involved using Suzie as bait, as the most idealistic member of Torchwood, and the rather horrible strafing guns that had come through the rift six months ago.

The lake really had been full once they'd finished their work.

Owen swore he'd never eat sushi again.

--

**_Commentary: Prompt 5_**

_I think this is pretty straightforward but, looking back, I must have written this before I saw the Bad Wolf episodes. Otherwise, I wouldn't have said he woke up hours later. Changing it now would alter the diction, though, and I don't think it's a major enough mistake to rewrite it all. Besides, I kinda like it how it is, even though it's angsty._

**_Commentary: Prompt 6_**

_This one makes very little sense, I have to admit. For some reason, I had it tagged with 'activation energy' along with 'wish' and I'm pretty sure I ripped that first line from one of Brian Jacques' books (which I haven't read for like ten years). The last two lines were an attempt to bring the prompt full circle but instead it just ended up sounding…weird. And poor Suzie; it looks like I really had something against her that month._

--

**Author's Notes: **

_Yay, more reviews! Thank you, MakeLoveNotSense and deeta! Glad you both liked last chapter's drabbles._

_I should hopefully be getting into less introspective drabbles soon (I tend to like the action ones better because they're more amusing and I can put dialogue in sometimes)._

_Sorry it took so long for this. It hadn't been an urgent concern and some old/new fandoms are haunting me (Blood Ties, which I gave up on a while ago; Underworld which I rediscovered when I realized I wouldn't be within range of a movie theatre in time to see Rise of the Lycans; and NCIS which is the only really 'new' fandom for me)_

_Eh…not much more to say._

_I'll keep updating sporadically, although I'll keep to the schedule if it applies._

_Oh, and the contest is going on if anyone is remotely interested. At this point I'm considering just adding two random drabbles since I've already got so many floating around my computer._


	5. Chapter 5

**Title: **Tales Untold**  
Rating:** G-PG**  
Spoilers (in this chapter): ** up to "They Keep Killing Suzie" (S1)**  
Characters (in this chapter): **Jack, Gwen**  
Archived: **LJ and FFnet**  
Disclaimer: **Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.**  
Warnings: **angst? Divergence from canon?**  
Summary: **A ficlet collection of unconnected character introspections, alternate universes, potential futures, and other odds and ends. This chapter: Jack contemplates the deserted Hub and Gwen thinks about death.

**--**

**Prompt 9 - Presence**– WC 278 – 6/08

After working hours, when the team has left and the halls echo with their own emptiness, Jack is left alone. He doesn't like or dislike this time; in fact, he hardly notices it.

He learned long ago that sleeping is a choice for him, not a necessity. Whatever keeps him coming back to life also rejuvenates his body enough to keep him alive without sleep. It doesn't keep him from becoming irritable, heavy lidded, or sleep addled but that's what coffee is for. A short drop in attention span more than makes up for avoiding the nightmares that plague his rest.

For him, being alone means time to work uninterrupted, to investigate sightings of the doctor, the TARDIS, or possible alien activity. Without his team there the work is considerably more boring, drudgework rather than leisure, but it must be done and he does not shirk from the task.

This is the normal routine.

Sometimes, however, he breaks routine by going down to the cells or the archives, or even up to Myfanwy's eyrie if the occasion calls for it. He stalks the halls and feels the vast silence of the facility permeate his being. If he were to run or make noise, he would feel like a schoolboy mouthing off to a teacher. The solemnity of the place makes excess actions all but blasphemous, a mother's scolding of a child's raucous behavior.

It's odd how the atmosphere of the building manages to speak without words but it has been privy to so much; so many invasions, agents, experiments, artifacts, aliens, technological wonders; that sometimes Jack wonders if the Hub truly has developed a presence of its own.

**Prompt 10 - Lingers** – WC 271 – 6/08

Many people think death tastes metallic, like blood, or cloying, like rot. Very few know that in reality it tastes musty, like a cross between dust and hidden shadows. When the moment of death arrives there is no time to taste the blood in your mouth or the scent of your flesh dying, there is only time to appreciate death itself.

Gwen knows this because she had plenty of time to appreciate the taste and feel of death while slumped in the passenger seat of a car, experiencing the agony of her life being slowly stripped away and a bullet wound materializing through her brain. It is an experience that she will never forget because, despite her job working around alien technology, it is the closest she has ever come to something truly unknown.

She knows her team worries about her in the wake of the incident but only Jack sees through her cheerful façade and he does not confront her.

How could she explain what happened to them? Tell them what it felt like when there are no words to describe it?

Sometimes she thinks Jack remains silent out of pity because he does not want to force her to think about it. Most of the time, she thinks he does it out of sympathy and understanding. After all, he has also been dead; many more times than she has, and she is reasonably certain he cannot describe it either.

She will never be totally certain because that is the one question she will never ask, never force him to answer.

The lingering taste of death is simply too strong.

--

_**Commentary: Prompt 9**_

_I always thought the Hub had a kind of…feel…to it. Never quite so solemn in the presence of the team, but I imagine it has as many faces as Jack does, after seeing so much history._

_**Commentary: Prompt 10**_

_Since I like Suzie and Gwen, it shouldn't be a surprise that I'm interested in the one episode they had any kind of real interaction. Of course, this doesn't really have anything to do with that but…meh. It's what came out when I saw the prompt._

--

**Author's Notes:**

_Geez, it's been a while, hasn't it? School took over my life thanks to 18 units and a couple insane professors. But now it has ended (as of a little over a week ago) and grades are out, so I am ready to move on to my personal stuff._

_Such as this._

_At least, until I get a job. Or, if that doesn't happen, until I get embroiled in volunteer work and research._

_Anyways, I'm dedicated to finishing this eventually and hopefully I'll get ten or twenty prompts up before I become preoccupied again._

_Thanks for the reviews **MakeLoveNotSense **and **gaia-x-goddess**!_

_NOTE: Prompt 7 & 8 commentaries were mislabeled last chapter._


	6. Chapter 6

**Title: **Tales Untold**  
Rating:** G-PG**  
Spoilers (in this chapter): ** None**  
Characters (in this chapter): **Team**  
Archived: **LJ and FFnet**  
Disclaimer: **Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.**  
Warnings: **angst? Divergence from canon?**  
Summary: **A ficlet collection of unconnected character introspections, alternate universes, potential futures, and other odds and ends. Prompts for this chapter: Alone &Wounds

**--**

**Prompt 11 - Alone **– WC 125 – 6/08

When all has been said and done, the shots are all spent and the cards have been played, there is only one fighter left standing. He is not the fastest or the smartest and some would debate his position as strongest however as he is still alive and they are dead, the issue has become a moot point.

He is dazed and confused, seeing the world through a fog of shock. He cannot believe they are gone…his comrades…his _family…_they have been with him since he appeared in this strange place.

And now they are dead.

Their murderers will pay for the deaths of his family in the blood and pain of _their _families.

With a maddened howl, the weevil takes to the streets of Cardiff.

**Prompt 12 - Wounds** – WC 337 – 6/08

The rift is a scar on the Earth, a jagged wound cutting through that which should always be whole: space and time. The Doctor understands this for he has known many planets and understands the subtly beautiful feeling of a world that has no imperfections (generally, a world that has yet to be colonized). He has never met a human capable of the depth of empathy it takes to comprehend a planet's state.

To Jack, the rift is a welcome flare of energy, a symbol of that which he left behind and that which might be his in the future. It is the most consistent connection he has with the universe beyond Earth, the prison that has become a home. He does not understand the Doctor's reluctance to stay on the rift for longer than a few hours.

Team Torchwood, Jack's motley little band of followers, comprehends the rift differently from their leader. To Ianto, it is a constant tingling sensation at the back of his mind, something to be wary of when it changes but that is ultimately harmless and barely felt. Owen, on the other hand, cannot feel the energy; he can only marvel at the affects it has on human and alien physiology. Tosh ignores the occasional burst of psychic energy and only acknowledges the rift through her machines. The last member, Suzie, cannot feel the rift but she can feel its affects; a growing sense of paranoia haunts her waking moments, only allayed when she uses the glove that has become her world.

Beyond the boundaries of Torchwood, PC Gwen Cooper feels the rift as a constant fluid hum in the back of her skull that intensifies and fades like the tide. She has lived her entire life over the dimensional fracture and has always felt its presence, even before she was born. For her, it is a comforting presence, ignored because of its permanence. If it ever vanished, she would notice and feel its loss but as it is she remains oblivious.

--

_**Commentary: Prompt 11**_

_Eheh…draw your own conclusions for this one. I personally like it, even if the whole 'surprise character' didn't work out. (How many of you guessed who/what it was before being told?)_

_**Commentary: Prompt 12**_

_Takes place before the series, since I added Suzie. Hm…had some trouble trying to characterize the rift in this one. I mean, how exactly do you describe a rip in space and time without using those words? Dimensional fracture seems to work, but I'm not positive; it's not like they've ever had a 'mirror' episode. And I'm really not sure why I thought of the rift instead of a person for this prompt, but I think it works._

--

**Author's Notes:**

…_And as soon as I say I'm going to put stuff up, I get sick and the internet goes screwy. I think they're blaming it on North Korea..? Meh, whatever; I honestly don't care who's doing it. I just want it to stop so I can use my internet correctly again._

_Not much else has happened since the last update so…see you next time! _

_Thanks for the review MakeLoveNotSense!_


	7. Chapter 7

**Title: **Tales Untold**  
Rating:** T (swearing)**  
Spoilers (in this chapter): ** S2 (All the way through Exit Wounds)**  
Characters (in this chapter): **Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Owen**  
Archived: **LJ and FFnet**  
Disclaimer: **Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.**  
Warnings: **angst? Divergence from canon?**  
Summary: **A ficlet collection of unconnected character introspections, alternate universes, potential futures, and other odds and ends. Prompts for this chapter: Heal & Pain

**--**

**Prompt 13 - Heal **– WC 389 – 9/27/08

There is silence in the Hub.

Standing in his office, Jack surveys his domain with a sober expression. If he turns his head slightly to the left, he knows he will see Gwen and Ianto huddled together on the couch, still and silent in exhausted sleep. One day, not so long ago, he would have teased them about it and made some provocative comments, perhaps tried to initiate something with both of them.

But not today.

Today, there is no one moving around beneath him. The computers are off, the monitors inactive, and the rift debris ignored on the floor. Even the weevils in the cells seem to understand something is wrong; their normal snarls and growls have not been in evidence since…since It happened. Since Grey happened.

Today, Torchwood mourns its dead.

The wound that was created when Tosh and Owen died will not heal easily or soon. He knows it will eventually but, for now, that is no comfort. After seeing so many people die, he knows he should be used to it but, if anything, it hurts more every time.

Respecting the silence, Jack quietly descends into the Hub and sits down next to what remains of his team. Ianto raises his head blearily to look at him and Gwen whimpers quietly, trapped somewhere between dreams and reality. He reaches out and strokes her hair lightly, trying to soothe her but unsure if she is trying to escape the nightmares of her sleeping mind or the horror of the waking world. Something in Jack's expression clues Ianto into his thoughts and the younger man shifts enough to grab the immortal's arm and pull him into the huddle. Jack stiffens but settles quickly; ignoring their sleepy grumbling, he maneuvers until Ianto is pressed into his side and he can wrap an arm around Gwen's back and shoulders. Ianto and Gwen drop back into sleep immediately; having never fully woken up.

Jack closes his eyes and listens to them breathe, feels the warmth of their bodies and the twitch of muscles. Feels the _life._

He might have lost half his team, but half still remains. As he nods off to sleep with Ianto's breathe tickling his ear and Gwen's heartbeat against his hand, he feels the pain ease.

This time, at least for a while, he isn't alone.

**Prompt 14 - Pain** – WC 100 – 9/27/08

"Shit!"

"Would you stay still already?"

"It hurts!"

"Big baby."

"Are you _sure _it's not poisoned or something? Did you run the topical analysis and the-"

"Owen."

"-organism analysis scan, just in case. Oh, and the foreign infection scan to see if-"

"Owen!"

"What?"

"Shut up!"

"It's procedure!"

"Since when do you follow tight procedure?"

"Ouch! Some nurse _you'd _make, Cooper. You're torturing me!"

"_I'm_ not a nurse and _you're_ not a patient. But if you don't want me to help you then-."

"I didn't say that. Fuck! Bloody hell, woman, that hurt!"

"For God's sake, Owen, it's just a sliver!"

--

_**Commentary: Prompt 13**_

_I miss Tosh and Owen. :(_

_**Commentary: Prompt 14**_

_I used to love doing dialogue ficlets like this; they're tons of fun to write, even if you have to watch a lot of character interaction to do it. A tiny bit of swearing but…well, it's Owen. It seemed like the most likely swear he'd use._

--

**Author's Notes:**

_These are the first of the ficlets that I wrote after my initial surge of inspiration died down. As such, the tone and writing method in and after this chapter will change significantly._

_I haven't seen Children of Earth (BBCA black-screened on me) but I do know what happens. Now I don't know if I want to see it…poor Ianto…and Jack…and everyone…_

_Thanks for the reviews, MakeLoveNotSense and ca choel!_


	8. Chapter 8

**Title:** Tales Untold  
**Rating:** G  
**Spoilers (in this chapter):** Doctor Who S3  
**Characters (in this chapter):** Gwen, Tosh  
**Archived:** ffnet  
**Disclaimer:** Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.  
**Warnings:** AU, vagueness  
**Summary:** Visions of a mind connected to the rift (Real), Tosh's inception into Torchwood (Much)

--

**Prompt 15 - Real –** WC 505 – 9/27/08

Gwen floats on waves of blue electricity under a sky of orange energy, feeling the ebb and flow of the universe as it welcomes her into its embrace. All of space and time is open for her to comprehend and she is totally at peace with the knowledge.

As she moves further from herself, images begin to form in the field of electricity surrounding her, meaning nothing and everything at the same time. A girl with her face, walking but not alive. Ghosts with terrifying eyes, whispering pleas in the voices of children. Flying pepper pots. A robotic dog. Robotic people. Small things from a hundred thousand worlds, times, and universes.

These are peaceful manifestations, ignoring her as spirits would.

But they are not the only things in the blue space.

If she follows the waves deep enough, the manifestations become more solid, almost self aware. A blue box with a mind of its own, surrounded by a shimmering, rainbow colored field that belies its simple appearance. A simple metal crown inlaid with yellow jewels. A portal of broken glass. A complicated looking metal device that she now knows is a time agent's vortex manipulator.

She rarely goes further; the box is soothing and seems to enjoy her presence but the other figments make her uneasy. If she does go further, the images become almost frighteningly realistic.

Jack, shining like a beacon of gold amongst the blue, creating a disturbance in the energy with the brilliance of his shine. A girl with blond hair, weeping tears of gold as time and space force themselves through her head. Two beings, man-shaped with faces permanently in flux, features shifting and blurring. Their eyes, no matter the color or shape, stay locked in a permanent battle of wits. Sometimes she thinks they know she is there, that they are real people, but they never react to her presence. She is grateful for this; for some reason, she is certain that if either one reacted to her presence she would not make it out of the waves with her mind intact.

Only once has she gone further, dissociated her mind from her body far enough to find the most solid of the manifestations.

It is a planet, a world that shines both silver and gold, static in time and space yet somehow separated from reality. Beautiful and overwhelming, Gwen can barely look at it without feeling blinded. She knows she should not know of its existence, that it is separated from the other manifestations by much more than time and space.

That one time, she awoke from slumber with a strange word on the tip of her tongue and the dreams fading into nothing as they always did.

If she had known Jack at the time, she would have mentioned it to him but as it was, all she did was search for the word online to be sure of its meaning. When she found it didn't exist, she forgot about it.

There were no Google entries for 'Gallifrey'.

**Prompt 16 - Much** – WC 143 – 9/27/08

Torchwood is much more than Tosh expected.

More freedom, more life, more excitement, more adrenaline, more tragedy…the list goes on.

When Jack originally freed her from that UNIT holding cell, she had been certain he would treat her more like a prisoner than a person. Her knowledge was useful, that much was obvious, but logically her freedom would be a threat to Torchwood security.

She was pleasantly surprised by the reality of her new situation.

At least until she lived through her first alien invasion. Then she realized Jack didn't _need _to treat her like a prisoner; she would never be able to leave Torchwood because she would never want to. Torchwood was her life.

The idea didn't disturb her as much as it should have, as much as it would have before her recruitment.

Now she actually takes comfort in the situation.

--

_**Commentary: Prompt 15**_

_This one is actually one of my favorites, I'm not sure why. (I love being vague for some reason) Virtual cookie to anyone who can figure out all of my references!_

_**Commentary: Prompt 16**_

_I think this one works with canon but I'm not sure.  
_

_**--**_

**Author's Notes:**

_I'm hoping to finish uploading by New Year's so that I can take this story out of my 'projects' folder and put it in my '09' folder. That's also the reason I'll be posing a bunch of crappy little fics from my 09 ideas documents...which I haven't actually looked at in a while so I don't know if any of them are Torchwood or not. XD_

_Hm...I think that's it..._

_Thanks for the reviews __MakeLoveNotSense and __Skyuni123._


	9. Chapter 9

**Title:** Tales Untold  
**Rating:** PG  
**Spoilers (in this chapter):** S1, S2  
**Characters (in this chapter):** Jack, Ianto. Gwen, Suzie  
**Archived:** ffnet  
**Disclaimer:** Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.  
**Warnings:** AU  
**Summary:** A typical day with the team (time), Suzie just can't seem to stay dead (erase)

--

**Prompt 17 - Time** – WC 308 – 9/27/08

"It's all…timey-wimey."

The looks he gets from his team are absolutely _priceless. _They all just stare at him for a good long minute, glancing at each other uncertainly then back to him. Some move back to monitors, others maintain their focus. It's Ianto who finally breaks the silence.

"Is that a technical term, Sir?"

Jack doesn't bother to hold back his grin. Instead, he moves close enough for Ianto to feel his breath on his face and allows his tone to drop seductively when he responds.

"As a matter of fact, yes. It is." His Cheshire grin widens when Ianto swallowed and flushes slightly. He loves playing with his team like this; their responses are so damn amusing.

"What exactly does that mean, Jack?"

Jack reluctantly pulls his gaze off Ianto and turns his grin on Gwen instead. Ianto gratefully slips away to do…whatever it is he does while Jack is toying with Gwen. If she becomes too uncomfortable with Jack's advances, Ianto will undoubtedly intervene just like she did for him. It's an odd friendship but Jack can see it gradually growing stronger and he approves. If only because it makes his position less awkward.

"It means that this artifact came from a different time _and _a different universe." He leers at her and she blinks a few times, folding her arms defensively.

"So why didn't you say that?"

"I did." He purrs, trying to play the same game with her that he'd played with Ianto.

"Knock it off Jack." She isn't buying it. She steps away then pushes past him and heads towards Tosh's desk. The computer genius is carefully ignoring everything happening at the opposite end of the room, as is Owen. She will undoubtedly welcome Gwen's gossip though.

Jack laughs and shrugs on his coat. There's still an alien to be captured, after all.

**Prompt 18 - Erase** – WC 648 – 9/27/08

Suzie had been erased from existence.

She'd known it would happen if she got caught and killed but the sheer effort that went into pretending she had not only never worked for Torchwood but also never existed at all was a surprise.

The first time she came back, the knowledge that her teammates, her _family _had left her behind had hurt. She'd been bitter and angry at the woman who had taken her position and fit herself into the Torchwood family better than she had. She knew it was wrong, she knew the 'escape route' that brought her back to life was executed in the throes of insanity brought on by the glove.

That damned glove.

She hadn't been as insane when she came back; she'd been desperate and angry with some lingering insanity. When she actually stopped to talk to Gwen, she felt bad about what she planned to do but the lingering insanity allowed her to hold on to the warped belief that, since Gwen's life force would live on through her, the sacrifice was acceptable.

The second time she came back, a strange young man was using the glove and Gwen was slumped over, unconscious, in a corner of the morgue. The man introduced him self as Grey, offered to keep her alive using some sort of technology in return for her service, and said he would allow Suzie to choose Gwen's fate as a bonus. Somehow he'd found out about her role in both of Suzie's deaths and assumed she wanted revenge.

Suzie agreed instantly, still desperate to escape the Void. Gwen was dropped in one of the darkest, deepest cells in the lower levels, as far from any of the other prisoners as possible. Grey performed a complicated procedure with a handheld device and transferred the glove's influence from himself to an energy source that would take the place of Suzie's life energy. Her heart didn't beat and her blood didn't flow but the injuries she died with (both times) vanished thanks to the energy source.

Suddenly secure in her life, Suzie didn't know what to do. That's when she found out she no longer existed. It also gave her time to consider everything she'd done.

Wandering around, she found herself standing in front of Gwen's cell. Unlike the normal cells, this one was much darker and damper without any of the amenities the upstairs cells had. No bed, facilities, or food. There were chains screwed to the ceiling but they dangled empty; Gwen was lying where she'd been dropped in a crumpled heap against the right wall, breathing evenly but still unconscious.

Suzie remembered how Gwen tried to help her after she came back the first time even though PC Cooper had nearly died at her hands. She remembered the sympathy and innocence in those wide brown eyes. Most of all, she remembered how Gwen had believed in her when there was no reason to. It was a trust that had come back to bite the rookie and not one she was likely to extend again.

But now, with the insanity suppressed by her rational mind and desperation a mere memory, Suzie took in what she had done for the first time. It was the resulting self-hatred, shame, and resentment that convinced her of what had to be done.

She entered the cell and knelt over her prisoner, smoothing the hair away from Gwen's face.

"Gwen Cooper." She continued to stroke the other woman's hair gently, tracing the contours of her face when the muscles began to twitch and the eyebrows fluttered. "I'm not finished with you yet."

Suzie watched those wide eyes, older and more haunted than last time, open and scan the cell groggily before settling on the woman touching her hair. Suzie could tell the second Gwen realized who she was and braced herself for the inevitable reaction.

"_SUZIE?!"_

_--_

**_Commentary: Prompt 17_**

_Not much point to this one other than to have fun. I imagine it happening after Jack's return from the year that wasn't, but before the bulk of the angst from S2. The friendship being discussed cropped up while Jack was gone (in canon).  
_

_**Commentary: Prompt 18**_

_This is definitely most likely to have its own spin-off fic. It reads like an excerpt and every time I go over again, plot bunnies begin nipping at my heals. None of them have gotten a really good bite in yet, but it's only a matter of time (well, depending on how many times I read it). For some reason, I like making Suzie a sort of tragic anti-hero.  
_

_--_

**Author's Notes:**

_I can't remember why I decided to change tenses between prompts but the end results seem to work. The contests mentioned...geez, forever ago,...are still open but I'm not holding my breath._

_Enjoy!  
_


	10. Chapter 10

**Title:** Tales Untold  
**Rating:** G  
**Spoilers (in this chapter):** None  
**Characters (in this chapter):** Jack, team mentioned  
**Archived:** ffnet  
**Disclaimer:** Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.  
**Warnings:** Angst  
**Summary:** Jack introspection on life and death (when), Jack's thoughts on crying (cry)

--

**19. When **– WC 119 – 9/27/08

"_What will you do if we die, Jack?"_

Jack's standing on the roof, pondering Gwen's question from earlier. He knows she didn't mean to hurt him. It was just a question to her; she has no way of knowing that he has seen hundreds if not thousands of Torchwood employees die. Most of them not under his command, thankfully, but that's only because he hasn't been the actual leader of Torchwood 3 for more than 20 years.

It's long enough to feel the burden of command and he's already wondering how long he'll manage to stay sane under the strain.

For, like Gwen's question, it is not a matter of _if _it will happen. It's a matter of _when_.

**20. Cry **– WC 343 – 9/27/08

Crying cleans the soul, or so they say. Jack is a firm believer in this statement.

Owen doesn't cry much. When he is sad or hurt, his face turns white and his mouth sets itself in a firm line. Sometimes he trembles or lashes out but usually he represses his emotions. As a result, he is bitter and afraid to confront his emotions. When he cries, and Jack has seen him cry, it means something truly horrible has happened to someone he loves.

Tosh cries at moments of high emotion. When she's extremely sad or shocked, her eyes will seem to tear up on their own. Often she doesn't even realize she is crying until a concerned bystander points it out. Jack has seen her cry several times, usually during apocalypse shock moments, but never out of grief.

Ianto cries on his own, trying to hide his grief. After Lisa's death he cried a lot more mostly because of the way she died. Deep inside, Ianto is a sensitive person and the trials he has gone through have left their mark. Jack sees Ianto cry much more than he would like, sometimes at random times. He's watching closely to make sure there are no underlying psychological issues such as depression or repressed impulses (suicide or homicide).

Gwen cries for the victims. It doesn't matter who or what the victimized person is; she feels for all of them. At least, she did at first. After being a member of Torchwood for two or three months, she stopped crying so often. It took a while for Jack to notice but when he did, he started watching her for the same reason he watched Ianto. He then realized that she was still crying for all of the victims but had gotten better at hiding it. Now she cried on her own time and only occasionally to Jack. Ianto and Rhys were her usual outlets and sometimes Tosh when she required comfort as well. Jack wonders when he lost her confidence but figures it is her choice.

--

**_Commentary: Prompt 19_**

_:'( Poor Jack_**_  
_**

**_Commentary: Prompt 20_**

_Hm. I like the idea but there's something awkward about the delivery. Not sure what.  
_

**_--_**

**Author's Notes:**

_*Sigh* The schedule didn't work out like I planned, for personal reasons. Bleh. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.  
_


	11. Chapter 11

**Title:** Tales Untold  
**Rating:** PG  
**Spoilers (in this chapter):** None  
**Characters (in this chapter):** Gwen, Jack, Ianto  
**Archived:** ffnet  
**Disclaimer:** Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.  
**Warnings:** AU  
**Summary:** Jack tries to give Gwen a normal life (wipe), Ianto is being chased by an alien (away)

--

**Prompt 21 - Wipe** – WC 321 – 9/27/08

Gwen is immune to retcon.

None of the team thought twice when she saw through the first dose, given when she was still a police constable. Never mind the fact that less than one percent of the population can recover any of their retconned memories yet she managed to recover _all _of them. Even Owen's medical opinion was that the shock and trauma of the experience coupled with numerous triggers (Suzie, the knife, Jack, the police investigation, etc.) was what allowed her to remember.

The second time she was retconned, it was by Jack when he tried to give her a normal life. All of them knew what had happened and went to work feeling sober and trapped in their jobs, sorry that they'd never see Gwen again but hoping she'd have a better life. None of them would say it but they were also jealous that she could walk away from Torchwood; she had a life to go back to, one that didn't hinge on fighting aliens. The atmosphere remained dour up until about noon when Gwen came stomping into the Hub and marched up to Jack's office, past the startled gazes of Owen, Tosh and Ianto. They could hear her yelling all the way from the ground floor.

Jack somehow managed to convince her to go down to the medical bay; no one was sure how since he didn't seem able to get a word in past her shouting. Owen tested her and found that she had taken the retcon and it had taken effect but it had worn off even faster than the other dose. And this time there weren't any triggers.

It had taken a while to calm Gwen down but eventually she accepted Jack's explanation and took her place back in Torchwood's midst.

Emotions ran opposite from earlier in the day: gratefulness that she was with them and sadness that she would never have a normal life.

**Prompt 22 - Away **– WC 128 – 9/27/08

Ianto fled the scene, heart slamming in his chest as he pushed his legs to stretch further and his pace faster. The mng'wa was chasing him; even though he couldn't hear anything, he knew it was there. His ear comm. squawked at him but he didn't take time out to answer. If he wasn't fast, he'd be dead.

_Ianto! What's happening? Where are you?_

Gwen sounded frantic.

_Ianto, can you hear me? _Jack paused to give Ianto time to answer but the teaboy was panting too hard to respond. _Tosh, trace his locator._

_He's about forty meters from your position and moving fast southeast._

_We're on our way._

All Ianto could manage was a slight smile of relief but internally he felt renewed.

Help was on the way.

--

_**Commentary: Prompt 21**_

_AU. This never happened in the series, as far as I know. When I wrote it, I was under the impression that retcon was a good deal more effective then it seemed to be in S2. Now, I'm not so sure.  
_

_**Commentary: Prompt 22**_

_Since Countrycide, I always feel a little sorry for Ianto when he's out in the field. I just keep remembering his expression when he opens the fridge and finds all of those body parts.  
_

_**--**_

**Author's Notes:**

_Tiny formatting oddity last chapter; I forgot to transfer from the format I write in to the format I usually post in. Other than that, nothing's changed in the last five minutes. XD  
_


	12. Chapter 12

**Title:** Tales Untold  
**Rating:** PG  
**Spoilers (in this chapter):** S1 finale, JE (sort of), S2 finale...let's just leave it at everything before CoT  
**Characters (in this chapter):** Gwen, Rhys, Owen  
**Archived:** ffnet  
**Disclaimer:** Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.  
**Warnings:** AU, angst  
**Summary:** In the end, it was love that ended Gwen's marriage (tears), Owen reflects on his job (scream)

--

**Prompt 23 - Tears **– WC 1272

In the end, it wasn't Gwen's affair that ended her relationship with Rhys. Nor was it Torchwood. Or Owen. Or Jack. Or her lack of attention, for that matter. It wasn't even death, for the timeline reset and the 'living' partner made it through the trauma of seeing the other's corpse.

No, in the end, it was love that ended it.

Rhys had always supported Gwen. When she was a police officer he worried constantly but she always came home and gently mocked him for his fears, allaying them in the process. He didn't see her much when she was hunting for Torchwood those first few days and sometimes he wonders if he should have intervened. If he had asked her to stop, would she have continued? He's fairly certain that's when she began to change. She was a member of Torchwood before she even crossed the threshold.

As a member of a secret not-quite-government agency, Gwen became quieter and more intense, prone to deeper thought and smiles that seemed more brilliant than ever, as if she could suddenly understand and appreciate life. She stopped mocking him for his worry, which increased his fears because it meant she truly thought what she was doing was dangerous. Her hours became less predictable but she was always happy to see him when she got home and he knew he could count on her for when it really mattered. He became accustomed to this new, quiet Gwen and decided their relationship was evolving so he would evolve with it. He refused to notice how her eyes became deeper and darker, hiding pain and emotional scars he could only guess at, and that she began to respond to his conversations automatically, just barely holding onto the train as if she had something much more important on her mind. To him, it was all just a natural progression, slightly hampered by her inability to tell him about what she did.

The first time he truly began to comprehend the situation was when he realized she had been spending more time with her work buddies than with him…and that he didn't even know their names. Sometimes he wondered if they even knew she had a boyfriend.

His thought process ran along the lines of 'Boyfriend? Why just a boyfriend? They had been together long enough to be practically engaged, right? Why not make it official?'

And so he proposed, as the next logical step in their relationship. The totally gobsmacked expression on her face made his slightly quivering worldview waver dangerously, and her hesitation threatened to dislodge it completely but her eventual acceptance set his mind, and world, back at ease. The Gwen he knew would be delighted to be engaged and no thoughts of work would even cross her mind once she accepted his ring.

It didn't quite work out like that, what with her boss leaving and all, but that was to be expected, right? She spent some more time at work but when she was at home she acted exactly like the 'new' Gwen normally did. If he heard her crying sometimes, in the bathroom with the door locked, or if she woke up panting and terrified from nightmares she'd never had before, he was able to dismiss it as expected side effects of being a member of Torchwood. He was always more than willing to hold her, mutter endearments into her hair, or to 'distract' her from her nightmares with more pleasurable activities but he never really asked what they were about. He figured she wouldn't be able to tell him and he, honestly, didn't want to know.

When he finally found out what exactly Torchwood did, he was surprised and slightly horrified by the amount of danger Gwen had willingly put herself in but ultimately proud. He decided to stick by her side and continue to support her, even through something so outlandish and…well, alien.

Both of their worlds brightened at this acceptance and the wedding that came later; she made greater attempts to come home earlier, spoke with him more, and began to meet his gaze more often. Her smile, which had become a rare occurrence, put in appearances more often. Oddly enough, this was when Rhys began to feel a stirring of unease. He saw the effort she was putting in and welcomed it but…he'd never noticed its absence. That was when he began to look for and pick out the differences between 'PC Cooper' and 'Torchwood Agent Gwen Cooper-Williams'.

He didn't like what he saw.

It was many months before he could come to admit it to himself but after she saved the world at least twice (probably numerous times, but it was only noticeable to all of Cardiff those two times and he had stopped counting her stories) and decided to spend some time with her team afterward rather than coming straight home, not to mention after she lost two of her teammates, he was forced to face a very uncomfortable realization.

The Gwen Cooper he had married was not the Gwen Cooper he had fallen in love with.

When Rhys thought of his wife, he always remembered her laughing, dancing in the bowling lanes and jumping into his arms at rugby games. She smiled wickedly, and giggled at his jokes, sympathized with him about work and groused about her superiors on the force. She also went out with him and his friends on occasion, though he never joined her with hers, and she didn't hesitate to smile or crack a joke, even while in her police uniform.

He rarely, if ever, thought of her standing tall and serious inside of an underground bunker with a dinosaur flying overhead. And if he really wanted to be straight with himself, he didn't think of her with the shadows behind her eyes, the scars on her soul that tinged every laugh with an echo of sadness and never quite left these days.

It took several days of being drunk, and more of being of sober, to decide that all of those times he dismissed her actions as their relationship evolving, she had actually been the one changing. He had stayed the same and refused to acknowledge what was right in front of him. He ached for Gwen when he thought of her surviving apocalypses and gaining scars then coming home to a boyfriend who prattled on about misfiled papers and the merits of different rugby teams. But he also couldn't help feeling irritated and resentful because she never even tried to share her life with him before he forcibly found out about it. Easily dismissed emotions because he knew they were ridiculous…but still.

He tried, oh did he try, to acclimate himself to the new Gwen, with full knowledge (or so he thought) of how she had changed but it was simply too hard to find the woman he loved inside of the second in command of Torchwood, a co-savior of the world and the woman who loved him.

And so, it was his love for Gwen Cooper that caused him to request an annulment of his marriage with Gwen Cooper-Williams.

He felt horrible that relief was a prominent reaction when she agreed, and worse when she began to cry. It helped that she understood but…well, he had a feeling she was relieved as well, that she had only truly stayed with him because he symbolized the normal life she used to have rather than because he was the man she loved.

In the end, he knew it was the right thing to do.

And in the very end, she agreed.

**Prompt 24 - Scream **– WC 143 – 9/27/08

Screams were a part of the job.

Owen had known _that_ since getting out of med school. At the time, he'd never thought he'd be the one _causing _the screams though.

Now he was used to it. The screams of weevils, of alien life forms, of the odd compromised human, reverberated in his head and reminded him, at all times, of what had become of his life.

He knows what he does helps people but, oddly enough for a doctor, that wasn't the reason he became a member of Torchwood. He became a member to get some sort of closure for Katie's death and to understand what had happened to her.

Now that he knew he never would, he had no way to leave.

The screams, whether he caused them or stopped them, would be a part of his life until he died.

--

_**Commentary: Prompt 23**_

_For some reason, I really like this one. I find Gwen's relationship with Rhys heart-wrenching in that she loves him deeply but just can't seem to relate to him very well anymore in S2. And Rhys always seems selectively ignorant of Gwen's life. So...yeah; the ficlet depicts what I think. This one will probably be posted as its own story eventually.  
_

_**Commentary: Prompt 24**_

_It has to bother Owen sometimes...  
_

_**--**_

**Author's Notes:**

_Shit! I just realized I have three days before all of my documents expire. No time to talk...time to type!  
_


	13. Chapter 13

**Title:** Tales Untold  
**Rating:** PG  
**Spoilers (in this chapter):** early S1  
**Characters (in this chapter):** Gwen, Rhys, Owen  
**Archived:** ffnet  
**Disclaimer:** Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.  
**Warnings:** AU, angst, humor  
**Summary:** Gwen and Ianto are forced to work 'it' out (fight), Gwen gets distracted at work (hand)

--

**Prompt 25 - Fight** – WC 397 – 9/27/08

They tear into each other like rabid dogs, biting and tearing with teeth, clawing and grasping with fingers, even kicking and kneeing with their lower bodies.

Gwen is aware of the cheering audience outside the cage and somewhere inside she feels shame and anger at the situation. Whatever they gave her to force the fight is keeping her from stopping and is driving the frenzy of blows she rains on her opponent. He is taller and stronger but she is faster and more experienced at hand to hand fighting. Both of them are covered in bruises but neither can slow down or stop. She is thankful that some vestige of their true selves is not being influenced by the drugs; so far, neither has suffered anything more severe than bruising.

Ianto can barely hear the crowd anymore; his entire focus has shrunk to his opponent. He knows he should be able to win; she is shorter and lighter, not as capable of forcing restraint. But she is quicker than he thought she'd be and her police experience has taught her a surprising amount about dirty fighting. He knows she must be heavily drugged with the same thing they gave him since she's attacking him so fiercely. The knowledge makes a thread of guilt snake down his spine; he's drugged too but he can also feel some satisfaction at this fight.

He's always been resentful of the ex-policewoman. He'd only been with Torchwood 3 for a few months when Jack recruited her, yet she had made a place for herself with the team, with _Jack_, before he did. Becoming friends has been a slow process but he's truly started to appreciate her in the last few weeks. His lingering resentment has caused him no end of shame every time she turns those wide, excited eyes on him and thanks him for his place in her life. He's almost grateful to the aliens, or whatever they are, that are forcing the fight and allowing him to work it out. As long as it doesn't go far enough to hurt anyone, that will stay his attitude.

The fight ends when Ianto cries out in response to a hard bite on the ear. Neither of them realized they weren't making noise until then and when it happens, the glass fighting dome is flooded with a gaseous sedative and both are rendered unconscious.

**Prompt 26 - Hand **– WC 320 – 9/28/08

There's a hand on Gwen's desk.

She notices it the second she comes in and stops abruptly. She knows about the hand. _Of course_ she knows about it; Jack rarely lets the thing out of his sight. So what, exactly, is it doing on _her _desk?

"Um…Jack?"

"Yeah?" the answer comes from somewhere above her but she doesn't take her eyes off the hand to find out where.

"Why is your hand on my desk?"

"Funny, I don't seem to be missing any limbs."

"Jack…"

"My office took a beating during the Silurian Scorpion incident. Just keep an eye on it for a little while."

"But…"

"Oh come on; it's just a stasis jar. It's not like I'm asking you to babysit or anything. And don't worry; it's not going to come to life and attack you or anything like that."

Somehow, she got the feeling he wouldn't be all that sorry if the hand did display sentience.

"Jack!" But he was either gone or ignoring her.

Using a ruler, Gwen nudged the hand to the edge of the desk and stared at it distastefully. There was absolutely no way a severed limb could look at her but the hairs on the back of her neck tingled every time she tried to do paperwork.

Even when it wasn't two feet away, the hand creeped her out. It might not be so bad if she knew what it was or why it was so important but Jack kept that secret even tighter than his immortality. As a result, she was constantly reminded of 'Thing' from 'The Addams Family'. Or was it 'It'?

Regardless, she was just waiting for it to emerge from the jar some day and start scuttling around the Hub on all five fingers. It would be just her luck if it happened while Jack's office was being redone.

Needless to say, Gwen didn't get much paperwork done that morning.

--

_**Commentary: Prompt 25**_

_My take on the 'Gwen & Ianto issue' that was taking the fans by storm during S1. -_-  
_

_**Commentary: Prompt 26**_

_X3 Not what you were expecting based on the summary, was it?  
_

_**--**_

**Author's Notes:**

_Still typing..._


	14. Chapter 14

**Title:** Tales Untold  
**Rating:** PG  
**Spoilers (in this chapter):** early S1  
**Characters (in this chapter):** Ianto, Jack  
**Archived:** ffnet  
**Disclaimer:** Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.  
**Warnings:** angst, humor  
**Summary:** Once upon a time, Ianto liked being touched (held), Jack waxes poetic about his team...sort of (years)

--

**Prompt 27 - Held** – WC 287 – 9/29/08

Once upon a time Ianto was a very physical person. As a child, he could regularly be found wrapped around his mother's legs, sitting in his grandma's lap, or hanging off his dad's back. And every time someone hugged him, he would give a shy smile and return the favor with gusto.

He grew like a weed once he hit his first growth spurt and by the time he was fifteen he no longer initiated hugs or physical contact; touching teenaged girls made him blush and stammer and touching boys prompted just about the same reaction. But he still enjoyed it when his mother hugged him and missed the days when he could return the hugs un-self-consciously.

After exiting university he was once again secure in his self image, enough to confidently initiate relationships with both women and men. Touching was a part of every one of his relationships. His tendency to cuddle made some of the men uncomfortable but most of his partners were more than happy to reciprocate. Lisa, the woman he came to love, shared his love of physical contact and they spent many weekend mornings simply curled up in bed together enjoying each other's company.

Jack…Jack is Different. He's like cold fire; capable of burning horribly if Ianto tries to hold him too hard. It isn't a physical thing, oddly enough; Jack has no problem with _that. _But Ianto cannot imagine laying in bed lazily with Jack, simply for the pleasure of his company. For the first time, Ianto doesn't find comfort in touching. The emotional bond he searches for in touch is absent in Jack. The Immortal's emotions are locked tight somewhere deep inside, far beyond the reach of Ianto's touch.

**Prompt 28 - Years** – WC 215 – 9/29/08

In all the years that Jack has been a member of Torchwood (prisoner or agent: the line between the two blurred surprisingly often) he had never been part of a team like his current one.

Then again, he's never actually put a team together before. Suzie was the last of the old regime; before that, all Torchwood recruitment had to be approved by Yvonne or her lackeys at Torchwood 1. Owen and Tosh come from that time period but Jack chose them himself and carefully manipulated the recruitment process so that their applications wouldn't be turned down. Ianto was a spur of the moment choice, made because Jack loathed leaving anyone behind, even someone who once worked for Yvonne. Gwen was an even more spur of the moment choice than Ianto, made because of her values and investigative skills rather than any specialty or valuable asset. Her sophomoric leadership skills were a direct contrast to Suzie's experience but she contributed as best she could to the team.

Each agent has adopted a specific role and sometimes, when Jack is waxing poetic, he thinks they're the most successful team he's ever seen.

Then one of them does something stupid, like opening the rift or taking a zombie on a field trip, and he gets over it.

--

_**Commentary: Prompt 27**_

_Poor Ianto lost everything when T1 went down, didn't he? He probably went to a prestigious school, had a family, had a well paying job and a beautiful girlfriend...then nothing. I'm surprised he didn't go homicidal when Jack killed Lisa, even if she had become a cyber-woman.  
_

_**Commentary: Prompt 28**_

_...And when Ianto lost everything, Jack was suddenly free of any ties or control by T1. What do you think; was that good or bad? He formed a close knit team but...well, if you've watched the series, you know what happens to them. :(  
_

_**--**_

**Author's Notes:**

_I think these are from a later date than most of the other published ficlets...but they're still in 'angsty drabble' rather than 'snapshot AU' format so they can't be from that long after...  
_


	15. Chapter 15

**Title:** Tales Untold  
**Rating:** PG  
**Spoilers (in this chapter):** first, second, last episodes of S1  
**Characters (in this chapter):** Gwen, Ianto, Owen  
**Archived:** ffnet  
**Disclaimer:** Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.  
**Warnings:** friendship, humor  
**Summary:** When Jack leaves, Ianto and Gwen are forced into new responsibilities (used), Jack gets possessed...but doesn't seem to mind that much (captivate)

--

**Prompt 29 - Used** – WC 210 – 9/30/08

Usefulness is directly proportional to knowledge. Knowledge about aliens, technology, xenobiology, medicine, leadership, weapons…any sort of knowledge is power and, as such, useful.

Neither Ianto nor Gwen have areas of expertise and because of this they both feel like fifth wheels on occasion. Or, worse, expendable. Owen and Tosh have the insurance of knowing that, as medic and techie, they are necessary to the basic functioning of Torchwood but Ianto and Gwen know that the team was doing perfectly well before they became members and would most likely have done fine if they were never recruited.

And, actually, maybe that is the crux of the problem; that both are new to the team. They have yet to cement their positions. Maybe someday they will but for today that is little comfort.

After Jack's disappearance, positions are forced onto them and they acclimate quickly to their new, vital roles as first and second in command. As Tosh and Owen are already busy with their areas of study, the rookies are the only ones left to take up the mantle Jack dropped even though the others are more qualified and higher ranked.

Their shared situation gives rise to an odd but lasting friendship, one not even their conflict over Jack can break.

**Prompt 30 - Captivate – **WC 328 – 9/30/08 (sorta, 12:45 in the morning)

Ianto could hear Owen grumbling half heartedly somewhere to his right but he ignored it, paying barely enough attention to notice the normal sprinkling of rude expletives was absent; the sight in front of them was enough to curb even the doctor's acerbic tongue. Both men were lying in the dirt on the far side of a low hill, peering over the top to observe what was happening in the clearing on the other side.

Not for the first time, Ianto wondered if Jack got himself into these situation on _purpose. _

The leader of Torchwood 3 was standing in front of a small cylindrical spaceship, eyes glowing bright gold. Silver traced his veins, making his body seem to shine and his eyes to appear that much brighter. He was not wearing his usual attire; instead, he was decked out in low slung jeans with fine golden chains looped around his neck and both wrists. That was it.

Considering the state of the creature currently in control, Ianto was grateful Jack was wearing any clothes at all.

At Jack's feet, the Torchwood women were poised, staring up at him with devout adoration. Their eyes weren't glowing, not quite, but both were beginning to show signs of silver threads beneath their skin. Gwen was about two feet to Jack's front left, on her knees but sitting straight up and gazing upwards with an entranced expression. Tosh was cozied up to Jack's right side, head buried against his lower thigh with her eyes closed and a smile of pure bliss on her face. Jack – or what was inside of him- was staring straight ahead rather than at either woman.

It took a moment for Ianto to realize he was looking directly at Owen's hiding place.

With a muffled curse, he pulled back and freed his gun from its holster, preparing for a fight.

He really could have done without meeting the male equivalent of the orgasm alien from Gwen's first day.

--

_**Commentary: Prompt 29**_

_Another take on the 'Gwen & Ianto issue' that was taking the fans by storm during S1  
_

_**Commentary: Prompt 30  
**_

_Reading this again made me snicker. I can TOTALLY imagine Jack dressed like that. XD I think this enters more of my 'snapshot AU' rather than 'angsty drabble' phase  
_

_**--**_

**Author's Notes:**

_Something happened in my mind at this point, I think. At least, the second prompt looks like the turning point but I'm not positive (haven't checked the next few yet).  
_


	16. Chapter 16

**Title:** Tales Untold  
**Rating:** PG  
**Spoilers (in this chapter):** None  
**Characters (in this chapter):** Jack, Ianto  
**Archived:** ffnet  
**Disclaimer:** Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.  
**Warnings:** AU, angst  
**Summary:**Jack has a visitor from the past; or perhaps the future? (resonating), Ianto takes comfort in definition (lines)

--

**Prompt 31 - Resonating **– WC 145 – 10/1/08

"I love you."

The words hit Jack like a lightning bolt, instantly rendering him speechless. There's a nasty little voice in the back of his head loudly crowing _'I told you so!'_ in a voice that sounds suspiciously like the Doctor (rather than Jiminy Cricket).

They are said by a young woman (she can't be older than nineteen!) with earnest, desperate eyes. She's somewhat attractive but her figure is not slim enough to be conventionally pretty.

Appearances aside, Jack is very sure that he has never seen the girl before in his, admittedly long, life.

"Sorry…what?"

"I…I love you."

"Um...do I know you?"

She smiles at him wistfully, the desperation fading away as her outline becomes less solid and her features begin to distort.

Jack watches, transfixed, as the girl…ghost?... fades away to nothing, leaving behind only a whisper.

"_Not yet, my captain. Not yet."_

**Prompt 32 - Lines **– WC 432 – 10/2/08

Clean, straight lines define his morning. Black suit pants, dry cleaned and well-fitted, leave the closet first, followed by a colored dress shirt, perfectly pressed. Then comes his tie, one out of seven all of which are dignified in muted colors and un-creased (NONE are clip-ons. That would be a travesty.). His shoes come next; dark brown, buffed enough that he can see his reflection in them. Finally, he takes his dress coat out and irons it along the seams before putting it on and doing up the buttons.

He didn't used to be this way; in fact, the first time he showed such a level of meticulousness was when he applied for a job with Torchwood One and that was out of nervousness. The lines became sloppier, more relaxed as he spent time at the London office, settling into a routine and acclimating to his new surroundings. After meeting Lisa, he actually took his coat off a few times and wore brighter colors every once in a while, modifying Yvonne's mandatory dress code as much as she permitted.

The rigid uniform made an abrupt reappearance after the cyberman invasion.

He tried to convince himself it was because he wanted to make a good impression on the leader of Torchwood Three. Even though he shared the London office's contempt for Jack and his team, becoming a member was the only way he'd be able to keep Lisa alive until he could save her life. The suit was an extra precaution. Now that he understands Jack better (there were stories, of course, but no one actually _believed _he was like that), he knows he probably would have been better off in an outfit that exposed more skin.

Now that Lisa's gone and he's acknowledged he's a real member of Torchwood Three (a revelation that didn't come until after all of his ties to One, including Lisa, were gone), he continues to hide himself behind the straight lines and dark colors. It is his way of remembering the past, clinging to a time when everything was right in the world.

That's not to say he doesn't like his current job; Jack is a wonderful lover and Torchwood 3 is more of a home than Torchwood 1 ever was; but the first time he wore the outfit was when he had no knowledge of the darkness in the world, the depths of darkness that human nature could reach.

His suit represents a time of innocence and he'll cling to that image as long as possible, even though he lost that quality a long time ago.

--

_**Commentary: Prompt 31  
**_

_Okay...I'm sure I'm not the only one going 'WTF?'. To be honest, I didn't know what it was about even when I was writing it. The girl started as Gwen, changed to Rose about halfway through the first sentence, then became someone else entirely in the next five seconds. As it is, I think I'll leave it up to your imagination to figure out who she is.  
_

_**Commentary: Prompt 32**_

_So few people explore how Ianto must have felt, going from the ideology of TW1 to that of TW3; after all, he was a loyal member so he must not have thought very highly of Jack at first...this is my exploration of that.  
_

_**--**_

**Author's Notes:**

_Guess the angst wasn't totally out of my system after all. Hm._


	17. Chapter 17

**Title:** Tales Untold  
**Rating:** PG  
**Spoilers (in this chapter):** None  
**Characters (in this chapter):** Gwen, Owen, Jack  
**Archived:** ffnet  
**Disclaimer:** Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.  
**Warnings:** AU  
**Summary:** Gwen finds herself on the opposite side of the fence (bound), Torchwood 3 finds something unsettling inside a spaceship (life)

--

**Prompt 33 - Bound** – WC 435 – 10/2/08 / 10/3/08 (1am)

Gwen sat in the corner, the very picture of dejection. Her hair was mussed and she had a nasty looking shiner appearing on her right eye, a testament to the struggle she'd put up. But, in the end, she had still lost; the enemy had simply been too strong and well prepared in contrast to her lone, unprepared retaliation.

Now she was huddled in the corner, knees up at her chest with her arms loosely clasped around them and her head resting against the wall. Every once in a while one of her hands would come up to tug lethargically at the seamless metal collar around her neck, more out of habit or instinct than hope. Judging by the ring of blood and bruising peeking out from under the edge of the collar, she'd already nearly strangled herself trying to pull the restraint free. The short chain it was attached to was her only tether but it was obviously doing its job.

Apart from her bare corner, the room she was in also contained a door at the far end and two wraparound desks on the right and left walls. One of the desks was occupied but the person manning the post was ignoring the captive.

When the door slid open, the worker didn't look up but Gwen opened her eyes and watched blearily as the new person advanced across the room with two bowls in its hands. As it reached her position, she pulled herself up the wall until she was standing (after a fashion). Her exhaustion was obvious but her adversary still stopped right outside of her reachable area, cautious. The fight that had left the bruising on her face had definitely made an impression. She made a half-hearted attempt at snarling angrily but the sound rasped in her mangled throat, degenerating into a painful cough.

The noise made no impact; her captor simply placed the bowls on the floor, then pushed them into her reach with an extended foot. When she didn't respond, just remained standing, supported by the wall and watching with resigned wariness, the other left the room.

As soon as her subjugator was gone, Gwen allowed her legs to give out and sank back into her previous position, resting before investigating the bowls. The first one contained metallic flavored water and the second some kind of tasteless nutrient paste, the sort of nourishment Owen fed the weevils since their actual diet was unknown.

She didn't actually consume anything, just sank back into her corner with a near-inaudible groan.

She was never, EVER getting abducted by aliens again.

**Prompt 34 - Life **– WC 450 – 10/1/08

Owen balked at the sight that met him.

A woman hung in the center of the room, suspended in the air by a zero grav. field and held in place by numerous leads and tubes which connected her to various machines humming on the fringes of the room. She looked like a normal, attractive human female at first glance, sleeping peacefully despite her awkward position.

At second glance, he skin was just a little too pale, her muscles a little too tense, and her breathing just slightly too fast for her to be asleep.

It was an eerie tableau and Owen felt a shiver of apprehension run down his spine.

"Jack?"

"Did you find something?"

"…you could say that, yeah. I think you'll want to come see this."

"…I'll be right there."

When Jack arrived, followed by a curious Tosh, Owen was still standing in the doorway trying to force himself to go inside. Jack took the scene in at a glance and quickly realized there was some serious psychic energy manipulation going on; he was the only one who could enter without getting the urge to run in the opposite direction. (Owen was of the secret belief that Jack was faking his immunity but he wisely kept it to himself so he wouldn't be pushed in first).

After some of the stronger machines were disabled by Jack, the rest of the team was able to come inside. Tosh set about helping Jack with the machines, disabling and dismantling them with caution paid to those connected to the room's occupant. Owen was taking medical readings and attempting unsuccessfully to free the captive.

It took four hours to successfully extract her from the machinery and two more to render the devices in the room harmless. The woman stayed asleep the entire six hours as well for the hour long ride back to the Hub. Owen as unable to find the reason for her comatose condition and her former captors were less than helpful.

Some investigation by Tosh turned up her identity: she was a cop who had gone missing three years before while on a date with her boyfriend. According to him, it was as if she just vanished; there one moment, gone the next. Her case had never been solved and she had been listed as officially dead a year after her disappearance. Since no one actually saw the abduction, it hadn't even caused a blip on the Torchwood radar.

But all of that was just background information; it might help them figure out the aliens' motives but it wouldn't address the most important questions.

What happened to Gwen Cooper during those missing years and why wouldn't she wake up?

--

_**Commentary: Prompt 33  
**_

_It had to happen at some point. She's lucky not to have woken up in a cell or lab, as most of TW's victims do.  
_

_**Commentary: Prompt 34  
**_

_Eh...I don't like this one. When I started writing, it was supposed to go in a totally different and more interesting direction but by the time I realized it had taken on a life of its own, I didn't want to delete it. After all, the point of drabbles is to write what jumps into your mind.  
_

_**--**_

**Author's Notes:**

_AUs all around._


	18. Chapter 18

**Title:** Tales Untold  
**Rating:** PG  
**Spoilers (in this chapter):** None  
**Characters (in this chapter):** Gwen, Jack, Ianto  
**Archived:** ffnet  
**Disclaimer:** Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.  
**Warnings: **None  
**Summary:** Gwen is the only one that truly trusts Jack...and that scares him most of all (left), Jack gets distracted in his office (behind)

--

**Prompt 35 - Left** – WC 277 – 10/2/08

Trust issues are a common problem among the Torchwood agents. How can you trust a boss you know nothing about, when he lies through omission all the time? Gwen is the only person who, deep down, really trusts Jack.

And the fact that her trust scares Jack more than any of the alien monsters he's ever fought makes the team even warier.

If asked by Gwen, Jack would probably attribute his close-mouthed tendencies to the relationship he's had with Torchwood 1. When he first became an agent, keeping secrets had saved his life. He would never, not even to Gwen, admit that he'd had trouble trusting people years before getting stuck in the past, even before meeting the Doctor.

Perhaps his missing memories and the Time Agency had something to do with it…?

No one was really sure why Jack was more trusting towards Gwen then anyone else but it caused much consternation at first. They had been there longer and had proven their worth while she had been around all of two days before he had spilled some of his closely held secrets.

Eventually it just became a fact to be debated on over drinks when neither subject was present. The consensus became that Jack trusted Gwen because her loyalty had always been to Jack rather than Torchwood and because she had no dirty, destructive little secrets like the others did.

No one is sure what will happen when Gwen loses her innocence and gains some secrets (an inevitable occurrence while working at Torchwood) would Jack stop trusting her so much?

Despite the original problems, no one really wanted to know the answer to that question.

**Prompt 36 - Behind** – WC 183 – 10/3/08

Above, below, to the right, to the left, forward, behind, and roundabout again.

Right, left, around, up, down, behind, forward.

Jack watched the rapid movements of the gerbil zipping around in its cage and plastic exercise wheel, mesmerized by its single minded focus on simply moving as fast as possible.

"Um…Jack?"

"…Yeah?" he didn't look away.

"…Why do you have a hamster in your office?"

"It's a gerbil."

"Why do you have a _gerbil _in your office?"

"…Classified."

Ianto quirked an eyebrow in disbelief; he knew that tone of voice. It was the 'I have no good reason so I'm going to make one up' tone. And that wasn't one of Jack's better lies. But it wasn't Ianto's job to monitor Jack's every movement. With no further comments, he set the coffee cup he was holding down on the edge of the desk and left the office.

He would patch into the video system later and keep an eye on Jack from the comfort of his own desk.

Behind his back, beyond the plastic cage, Jack's eyes continued twitching until they crossed.

--

_**Commentary: Prompt 35**_

_Poor naive Gwen...she certainly got a wake up call, didn't she?  
_

_**Commentary: Prompt 36**_

_Why does Jack have a gerbil in his office, you ask? Because it's funny. XD__  
_

_**--**_

**Author's Notes:**

_I think these prompts are pretty self explanatory. Oh, yeah...anyone want to try answering the contest?_


	19. Chapter 19

**Title:** Tales Untold  
**Rating:** PG  
**Spoilers (in this chapter):** eh...general Doctor Who  
**Characters (in this chapter):** Jack, Gwen  
**Archived:** ffnet  
**Disclaimer:** Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.  
**Warnings:** AU, humor  
**Summary:** Jack hears the rumors just like everyone else (face), Gwen and Jack get distracted this time (once)

--

**Prompt 37 - Face **– WC 340 – 10/3/08

Legends come in all shapes and sizes. 'The Oncoming storm' aka 'The Last of the Timelords' is a myth throughout the galaxy, one that Jack had heard of long before he met the Doctor. Actually, he didn't connect the Doctor with the legend for quite a while. The strange alien had made a point of making Jack figure out what species he was without assistance.

Another legend, just as famous but for a different reason, was 'The Face of Boe'. He was known as an ageless creature with a remarkable reservoir of knowledge gained over his long life. As generous as he was mysterious, the Face had hidden his true name and species for several millennia.

When Jack heard of the Face for the first time, he laughed and brushed it off as a cosmic joke. No more thought was paid; as a new time agent he was still learning to navigate the time stream and that kept him more than occupied enough.

Now, though…now Jack tries not to think about the Face because doing so is terribly depressing. Some day he might be in a similar situation, unable to escape life for longer than any being should live. His current team, and every successive one, will die while he continues on, aging maybe a day in a hundred years but unable to die.

More than anything he is worried that his situation won't just imitate that of the Face but that it will be exactly the same.

After all, what were the odds that his old nickname and the title of a legend would be the same if they weren't connected?

He doesn't want to live for five millennia, lonely and timeless nor does he want to become a title rather than a person, to be in awe of rather than spoken to (or flirted with). And he really, really doesn't want to lose his body. Not having a body means having no _sex. _Not even having the option of it!

Jack would never be able to stand it.

**Prompt 38 - Once** – WC 274 – 10/3/08

It happened once.

Once was more than enough.

"Gwen, what the _hell _is that?!"

"How am I supposed to know? It was on my desk when I got in!"

"Well, take it down to Owen."

"He'll dissect it!"

"Gwen…"

"No, Jack. It's harmless and letting Owen experiment on it would be cruel!"

"Gwen, don't get attached."

"I'm not getting attached!"

"You said you _didn't _bring it in, right?"

"…No. It was on my desk. Why?"

"Did it bite you? Spray something at you? Touch you? Anything that might cause mind control?"

"You think compassion is a result of alien influence? It doesn't even have a mouth!"

"I'm just saying…"

"Why can't you just accept that-!"

_**Fwoom!**_

"…"

"…"

"Gwen, do me a favor. Next time a random animal, harmless looking or not, appears on your desk, just call Owen in."

"…Right…Is it…?"

"I have no idea but -"

_**Fwoom!**_

"Jesus CHRIST!"

"Jack!"

"Get it out! Get it out! Get it out!"

"Hold still!"

"Getitoutgetitoutgetitout!"

"Got i-"

_**Fwoom!**_

"GET THAT THING OUT OF MY OFFICE!"

"Don't hurt it!"

"What!"

"JACK LOOK OUT!"

_**FWOOM!**_

"Hah! Missed me you little…"

_**FWO-lch**_

"…Good idea."

Gwen shot him a scathing look and carefully placed the now-empty water glass over what looked like a sodden, black cotton ball with big purple eyes. The little…thing…gave Gwen an irritated look and vibrated like an engine before suddenly erupting into fire and exploding like a mini bomb. Thankfully the mini fireball didn't break the mug. Both Torchwood agents watched it with expressions of disbelief and confusion. In Jack's case, it was mixed with irritation.

"It caught my hair on fire!"

Gwen just rolled her eyes.

--

_**Commentary: Prompt 37  
**_

_You HAD to know this one was coming.__  
_

_**Commentary: Prompt 38  
**_

_...And this is what I write when I'm bored and NOT angsty. Cracky comedy.__ I like this one. :)  
_

_**--**_

**Author's Notes:**

_I know the humor in the first one is a little bit inappropriate considering the dour tone it started with but...meh. I can hear Jack complaining about not being able to have sex if he's going to become a giant head in a jar. And the second one...I was inspired by those little cotton ball things from Miazaki's "Spirited Away", mainly because a friend gave me a giant black cotton ball with googly eyes glued on to commemorate it. It was staring it me while I was writing.  
_


	20. Chapter 20

**Title:** Tales Untold  
**Rating:** PG  
**Spoilers (in this chapter):** None  
**Characters (in this chapter):** Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Surprise  
**Archived:** ffnet  
**Disclaimer:** Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.  
**Warnings:** Humor, angst  
**Summary:** Torchwood deals with an uncooperative Cardiff resident (pleasant), A member of Torchwood soars (dreams)

--

**Prompt 39 - Pleasant** – WC 570 – 10/8/08

_Just keep smiling…_

"So YOU are Torchwood, eh?"

"That's right, ma'am." Jack swept down into an old fashioned bow and kissed the small wrinkled hand of the questioner. Unfortunately, a move that would cause most women to swoon or at least blush and giggle didn't faze the crotchety old pigeon feeder in the least. If anything, her mouth twisted a little more in disgust.

Jack's smile didn't waver when she snatched her hand back. "Now, if you could just-"

"Oh, no! I have been sitting on this bench every day for the past twenty nine years! I'm not about to move for some wet behind the ears, uppity young pup! You'll have to-!"

Jack's smile stayed as brilliant as ever, even as he tried to get a word in edgewise to explain that they just wanted her to move for a few minutes so they could check beneath the bench for 'classified foreign contraband' (Tosh's nifty new term for rift debris).

Watching the scene from a few feet behind Jack, Ianto was very glad that all he had to do was smile and look inconsequential. For a few minutes it was actually genuine, when the old bat began to rant about how 'the youngsters today don't respect their elders!' There was no way she could possibly know that Jack was far older than she'd ever be.

"Ma'am…"

"Don't you Ma'am me, young man! I am not moving and that is final!"

There was a long, awkward pause during which Jack's smile finally fell into a gobsmacked expression. Without his charms or his threats, he had little else to rely on.

Swallowing a groan, Ianto surreptitiously set down the gear he was lugging and leant against a nearby tree. This could take a while.

"Jack! Jack?"

"Over here, Gwen!"

The woman scowled at the world in general as Jack waved Gwen over. It was possible she would be able to get through where he had failed; she was in charge of official liaisons after all.

"What's going on, Jack? Tosh said-."

"Gwen? Gwen Cooper?"

The old woman sat up sharply and squinted up at her.

"Come here, girl."

Gwen shot Jack a startled, confused look but he just ushered her forward. Progress already!

"Um…Hello?"

"Gwen Cooper?"

"Yes?"

"You work for Torchwood?" the disapproval in the woman's voice was sharp as a razorblade.

"…Yes."

"Hmph. Well now, never know what the world's going to do these days. A child of the song working for the hunters! Spaceships over London and monsters on the news!"

With a last scowl, the woman took off down the street at a surprisingly brisk pace, grumbling all the way. She left three very confused, but grateful, Torchwood agents in her wake.

After an exchange of looks, ranging from confused and questioning (Gwen) to amused and irritated (Jack), Ianto stepped forward to retrieve the fruits of their labors. He knelt down next to the bench and swept the polysatrine locator over the bumpy ground, anticipating the trill that would tell them where the newest artifact had wound up.

There was nothing there.

_Oh no…_

"Jack, did she happen to lean down at any point during her tirade?"

"…Damn it! MA'AM, WAIT!"

Ianto let his head fall forward and impact the bench with a quiet 'thunk' as Jack took off after her.

Gwen watched Jack's retreating back for a long, confused moment before turning to Ianto. "Um…did I miss something?"

**Prompt 40 - Dreams** – WC 236 – 10/8/08

In her dreams, she soars over the cliffs and grasslands effortlessly. Her thin, almost translucent wings are wide enough to catch even the slightest thermal rising from the gargantuan trees beneath her.

The others are spread around her; above, below, and behind; but she has found a spot at the front of their small flock so that she can feel the wind in her face and smell the richness of the unspoiled landscape. She does not close her eyes; it does not even occur to her; for fear of making mistakes. Missing prey would be embarrassing but missing a predator would be deadly, for herself and who knows how many of her friends.

Pumping her strong pectoral muscles to gain altitude, she soars over a cliff and down into a valley, letting out a fearsome cry of delight as small land bound creatures below go scurrying for cover and large ones turn to gaze up into the sky. It is a beautiful sound of freedom and wildness, echoed by her family until they set the whole sky ringing with their exuberance.

She banks around a tall tree, turning to look at her family and-

-wakes up.

There is no family, not anymore. No trees, no flying, no _home._

Her shriek of mourning carries to the earth-dwellers far below, drawing them to pause in their activities, but only for a moment.

Torchwood is accustomed to Myfanwy's cries.

--

_**Commentary: Prompt 39  
**_

_Heheh...the old woman actually has a backstory but I never wrote out the fic this was supposed to come from so it doesn't exist on the internet.__  
_

_**Commentary: Prompt 40  
**_

_Poor Myfanwy...ripped from her own time and forced to live with strangers in a strange place. Sometimes I feel like I should compare her to Jack, in that respect.__  
_

_**--**_

**Author's Notes:**

_Nada. Let me know if you like any of the AUs; I might flesh them out. Or I might just tell you what was supposed to be in them. Or they might just be one-offs._


	21. Chapter 21

**Title:** Tales Untold  
**Rating:** PG  
**Spoilers (in this chapter):** Last of the Timelords story arc, between S1 & S2  
**Characters (in this chapter):** Jack, Ianto, Gwen  
**Archived:** ffnet  
**Disclaimer:** Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.  
**Warnings:** Angst, humor  
**Summary:** The drums have destroyed many lives (voice), Gwen and Ianto get caught up a tree (chase)

--

**Prompt 41 - Voice** – WC 137 – 10/9/08

The voices of the past haunt Jack's dreams.

The old Doctor snaps at him, ridiculing his stupidity and forcing him to face consequences. Rose pleads and cries, begging him for help he cannot give. Martha murmurs in sympathy he does not want or deserve. The new Doctor dismisses him scornfully, disappointed in his choices and appalled at his existence.

And worst of all is the Master's laughter, ringing through all of the others. Piercing and insane, Jack can never quite escape the insane Timelord.

His team has not yet joined the realm of nightmares and haunting memories but it is only a matter of time.

Before leaving with the Doctor, Jack rarely slept out of fear that he would miss the TARDIS and everything that came with it.

Now he doesn't sleep because he can't escape it.

**Prompt 42 - Chase** – WC 439 – 10/15/08

It is surprisingly easy to climb a tree with a sprained wrist when you're being chased by a pit bull the size of a small pony.

_-Ianto!-_

His only response to the transmission was to share an eye roll with his companion, treed in a big oak a hundred or so meters away. The dog was barking at the base of her tree, drooling and slavering a mere five feet from her perch. She had her legs pulled up on the wide branch she had taken refuge on but was no longer flinching every time the tree shook under the animal's onslaught.

That had stopped about a half hour after they had taken to the branches.

Three hours ago.

_-Ianto! Answer me! Are you okay?-_

The worry in Jack's tone was what eventually convinced Ianto to answer, overriding his irritation at (a) being used as bait, (b) left in a tree for three and a half hours, and (c) the pain in his wrist which had dulled from excruciating to painfully annoying.

_-I'm fine, Jack.-_

His sigh of relief was audible _-Good. Is Gwen with you?-_

He didn't know where Gwen was? But he should have contacted her at the same time he contacted Ianto…

"Gwen!" He almost waved an arm to get her attention but remembered his wrist at the last minute. When he had her attention, he gestured towards his earpiece and made an inquiring gesture. She waved an arm in the direction of the ground, gesturing vaguely at a spot somewhere between their two trees. The gesture was short; both hands were needed to keep her in place due to the shaking of her refuge.

Scrutiny of the ground turned up her earpiece, cell phone, and scanner lying near the base of a bush where she must of dropped them during the chase.

_-Ianto? Is Gwen with you?- _Jack sounded like he was expecting the worst.

_-Um…yes.-_

_-…Can I speak to her?-_

_-She's…indisposed at the moment, Sir.-_

_-Indisposed.-_

_-That's right.-_

_-What does that mean?- _Uh-oh. His no-nonsense voice. Thankfully, Ianto was immune to its effects by now.

_-She's unavailable for comment, sir.-_

_-Ianto…-_

_-Have you managed to solve our 'problem'?-_

_-Yes. Tosh came up with a modified dart gun that should be able to penetrate its fur. I'll be there in a half hour or so to deal with it.-_

_-Yes, sir- _He couldn't keep the relief out of his tone as he ended the conversation.

Only thirty more minutes of playing 'potential chew toy'.

As Gwen was nearly shaken off her perch in response to a particularly exuberant jump, Ianto just hoped it wouldn't be too late.

--

_**Commentary: Prompt 41  
**_

_...Yeah...haven't actually seen those episodes but I know what happens. Hope I did it justice.__  
_

_**Commentary: Prompt 42  
**_

_Gwen and Ianto always seem to be the ones getting into these sorts of situations in my stories, don't they? X3 Then again, it's the same way in the series so...__  
_

_**--**_

**Author's Notes:**

_I honestly don't remember my inspiration for these ones. Take that as you will.  
_


	22. Chapter 22

**Title:** Tales Untold  
**Rating:** PG  
**Spoilers (in this chapter):** Journey's End, a tiny bit  
**Characters (in this chapter):** Gwen, Ianto, Jack, Doctor, Rhys  
**Archived:** ffnet  
**Disclaimer:** Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.  
**Warnings:** Humor  
**Summary:** Gwen and Ianto observe Jack and the Doctor (sanity), Rhys tries to distract Gwen from her work (tried)

--

**Prompt 43 - Sanity** – WC 381 – 10/16/08

"Is he sane, d'you think?"

Ianto looked up at Gwen's question, then leaned over the railing next to her and followed her line of sight to where Jack and the Doctor were 'conversing loudly' a few levels down. Both observers had been banished to the upper levels (where the argument only registered as noise rather than words) by the Doctor with Jack's support. Apparently they didn't have high enough clearance to hear what they were talking about.

Whatever that meant.

"Sane? The Doctor, you mean?"

"Yeah. Jack said…" she petered off, realizing Ianto had been present for the conversation she was referring to.

Ianto gave a one shouldered shrug. "That depends on your definition of sane."

"How do you mean?"

"He's lucid and coherent." She nodded slowly, unconvinced. "But he's also the last of his species and he was there when the rest were killed. Apparently, he also committed genocide on several occasions."

"Genocide?" her horrified gasp was expected.

"Like the daleks."

"Hm." The thought of genocide left a bitter taste in her mouth but after coming face to face with a dalek she understood the necessity behind the Doctor's clone's actions.

"Does human insanity really apply to a timelord?" This time it was Ianto asking the question.

"Dunno."

They both paused as the Doctor flailed his arms wildly, raising his voice to make an inaudible point. In response, Jack crossed his arms and they both recognized his 'purposely unimpressed' pose.

"He makes Jack happy." Ianto sounded like he was trying to find a reason why they were allowing a potentially insane timelord into the Hub.

"Yeah, I guess." Gwen couldn't help but notice that he didn't look all that happy at the moment.

_-Didn't I give you two work to do?-_

Both of them jumped when their earpieces squawked in unison.

"Jack?"

_-I can still see you, you know.-_

Down below, Jack was looking up at them. Gwen and Ianto shared a briefly embarrassed look before leaning back over the railing and waving at him.

He waved back, then raised a hand to his ear.

_-Having fun?-_

"…"

_-It's called work, people. Step on it.-_

His amused, slightly condescending tone made both of them flush and shuffle embarrassedly back to their work stations, leaving the Doctor and Jack to their own devices.

**Prompt 44 - Tried **– WC 124 – 10/16-17/08

"Luvly, maybe you could - ."

"I already tried that."

"Then-."

"That too."

"Gwenny, calm down. I'm just trying to help."

"I KNOW that Rhys!"

"…"

"God, I'm sorry. It's just…work, y'know."

"Torchwood."

"You don't have to sound so grim about it."

"Yes, yes I do. That Jack Harkness of yours is always stealing you away from me. If he doesn't keep his hands off, he's really going to find himself in trouble."

"Rhys!"

"You love it."

"Gerrof y'big lug!"

"Aw, c'mon. You need a break; can't deny yourself that."

"Rhy-OOoooh...okay, maybe a few a minutes."

"That's my girl!"

"But I still have to-."

"_Relax, _Gwen. The world won't end because you didn't file your paperwork."

"Actually…"

"…I don't want to hear that, love."

--

_**Commentary: Prompt 43  
**_

_...I guess this never really happened between JE and CoT but I can imagine, can't I?__  
_

_**Commentary: Prompt 44  
**_

_Just some Gwen/Rhys fluff. 'Tis cute.__  
_

_**--**_

**Author's Notes:**

_I realized yesterday that my documents were about to expire so I decided to either put up or edit what I have. I won't be able to respond to reviews for a while but I WILL do it._

_Thanks to everyone who reviewed!  
_


	23. Chapter 23

**Title:** Tales Untold  
**Rating:** PG  
**Spoilers (in this chapter):** early S2  
**Characters (in this chapter):** Owen, Jack, Gwen, Ianto  
**Archived:** ffnet  
**Disclaimer:** Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.  
**Warnings:** Angst, humor  
**Summary:** Owen muses on life, or something like it (hard), Jack decides to play a game (tell)

--

**Prompt 45 - Hard** – WC 193 – 10/17/08

Is being alive but paralyzed worse than being dead? Is being _undead _better than being dead?

Before this whole fiasco started, Owen probably would have said all life has value and, trite as it sounds, that where there is life there is hope. Okay, maybe he wouldn't have said that last part _out loud_ but it was part of his code of ethics.

As the boundaries of death blurred through countless Torchwood missions (contrary to Gwen's beliefs, zombies were not a new thing in the Hub), Owen's ethical base wobbled but some of the specifics remained firm. That tenant was one of the most steadfast.

Until, that is, Jack took a sledgehammer to it by bringing him back with the resurrection gauntlet (glove, mitten, _thing, _whatever; he really didn't see the point of having so many names for one stupid, relentless piece of crappy alien technology). Now he's neither alive nor dead yet both at the same time.

Making the transition from 'human' to 'zombie' aka 'possible Torchwood enemy' was the hardest, least rewarding thing he had ever done.

So…would being dead would be better than the current alternative?

Owen doesn't think so.

**Prompt 46 - Tell **– WC 372 – 10/18/08

"Jack, I really don't think…"

"Aw, come on Gwen. You can take a break."

Gwen sighed and resisted the urge to bang her head against the wall. He had managed to corner her away from her station and was currently trying to rope her into his latest 'I'm bored' scheme.

"I have work to do, Jack."

"I'm the boss; that means I can tell you to take a break."

_Haven't we been here before?_

"Jack…"

"Ianto's doing it!"

"What am I doing?"

Jack actually jumped in surprise when Ianto spoke from directly over his shoulder, then shot an irritated glance at the younger man which only drew a carefully blank look in response. Only a really good friend or family member would have noticed the amused set of his jaw and quirk of his eyebrow. Gwen used the distraction to slip by in the hope of reaching her desk. Jack wouldn't bother her if she could just get to…

No such luck.

"Oh no you don't!" He grabbed her shoulder, jerking her backwards.

"Jack, don't-!"

"Whoops."

She shot him a venomous glare as her armful of papers spilled out of her arms and scattered all over the balcony. Some of them floated lazily downwards until they came to a gentle stop in the pond. They would be soaked in seconds.

"Jack, those were important!" she pulled away, reaching to re-collect them, but Jack didn't release her shoulder. Instead, he tugged her with him towards the stairs, herding a startled and confused Ianto along before them.

"Gwen, calm down. You need a break." The serious note in his frivolity convinced her to stop struggling but she continued scowling and dragged her feet until Jack threatened to pick her up and carry her down to the lower level.

"Sir? What exactly are we doing?"

Recovering his attitude, Jack grinned widely and slung his free arm over the welshman's shoulder.

"Why, Ianto, it's almost as if you don't trust me! It's just a simple game of truth or dare!"

"Simple?" Gwen sounded incredulous.

"Well…" the grin turned wicked. "Simple _enough_ anyways."

His employees exchanged apprehensive looks behind his back.

"Aw, c'mon!" He'd noticed their look. "It'll be fun!"

This didn't reassure either of them very much.

--

_**Commentary: Prompt 45**_

_Pretty self explanatory.__  
_

_**Commentary: Prompt 46**_

_Jack can be quite the trickster. Although, considering that momentarily serious note, I'd imagine there's a reason behind this game.__  
_

_**--**_

**Author's Notes:**

_Enjoy! (Happy Easter, by the way!)  
_


	24. Chapter 24

**Title:** Tales Untold  
**Rating:** PG  
**Spoilers (in this chapter):** S2 finale  
**Characters (in this chapter):** Gwen, Jack, Ianto  
**Archived:** ffnet  
**Disclaimer:** Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.  
**Warnings:** AU, humor, crossover (DW)  
**Summary:** Gwen gets...misplaced...(gone), Ianto and Gwen encounter a foe that the Doctor would find familiar (still)

--

**Prompt 47 - Gone **– WC 393 – 10/19/08

She's gone.

The words just keep repeating in Jack's mind, over and over. He can't process them, not yet.

_She's gone. She can't be gone! I've already lost Tosh and Owen; I can't lose her too!_

He doesn't even notice when Ianto steps into place beside him, looking as pale and disbelieving as he feels.

Everything escapes his notice except for the circular portal of rift energy slowly dematerializing in front of him, the passage Gwen had been forced through during their fight.

Nothing living can survive unprotected inside of the rift (with the possible exception of Jack) but Jack will not even consider the logical conclusion to that fact.

--

Gwen stands shock still, staring down the barrel of a very familiar gun, held by hands shaking almost as much as hers are.

Wide eyes gaze back at her with absolute stupefication; her apparent captor obviously has as little idea of what is going on as she does.

She raises her hands slowly to waist level, showing that she is unarmed. (Her gear is in her jacket which is back in the SUV on the other side of the glowing portal that brought her here.)

"Who are you? WHAT are you?"

"Easy…" Gwen takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself down and wonders just how to explain what she thinks is going on. She decides to skip the first question and answer the second. "I'm human."

"No, you're not." The other woman is starting to sound more confident.

"Yes I am."

"No,_ I'm_ human. You can't be. You have to be a shape shifter or an alien or…something!" She is beginning to sound frantic.

And here comes the hard part. "I am human; as human as you. Actually, I AM you. I'm you from an alternate dimension."

Rookie agent Gwen Cooper's eyes widen almost comically as her hand tightens on her gun. She has only been a member of Torchwood for a week and is dealing pretty well with the revelations the job brings but this is almost too much: a doppelganger from a different dimension? Come on!

But something about the near-desperation in the stranger's expression; in _her _expression (which is a damned creepy feeling); makes her think she's telling the truth.

"Okay…"

"Could you put the gun down?"

She isn't THAT confident. "No."

"Alright."

They stand at an uncomfortable faceoff, trying to look each other over without actually meeting eyes.

This was going to be interesting.

**Prompt 48 - Still** – WC 354 – 10/19/08

"Do we know what it is?"

"According to the file, it's known as a 'weeping angel'."

"That's not very creative."

"It's also alive."

"What?" startled, Gwen turned her eyes on Ianto, away from the stone statue.

"Don't look away!" She whipped back around

"AH!"

The statue…no, the **creature **was several meters closer with its hands no longer covering its eyes. Now they were reaching towards her, fingers curled sharply into claws. The mouth was open, revealing rows of sharp teeth. Despite the wings and adornment, it looked more like a vampire than an angel now.

"Ianto?!"

"It's quantum locked."

"What does that mean?"

"The Doctor's notes don't explain much but I think it means they can only attack people who aren't looking at them."

"Then why haven't we already been killed? We weren't looking at it when we got here." She resisted the urge to look in his direction.

"Um…" She was right; why hadn't they been attacked? There weren't any recent deaths or disappearances in the area so it must be starved. For that matter, why hadn't it been attacking passers-by?

Something in the room must be keeping it contained. A quick scan didn't reveal much: two chairs, a chandelier, some broken cutlery, a couple dusty cell phones, a mirror…

A mirror.

"It's the mirror."

"What mirror?"

"What if it can't attack anyone when it is being looked at, not just the person looking at it?"

She grasped the idea quickly. "Where is it?"

"Hold on."

Positioning the mirror was a little tricky since the creature had changed the direction it was looking in since Gwen had broken its gaze on itself. However, Ianto managed to wrestle the big floor-length mirror into position fairly quickly, praying the whole time that Gwen wouldn't have the urge to blink or sneeze.

If she did she quenched it because they managed to trap the creature without incident.

Watching it watch itself, they exchanged a bemused look. It was harmless for now but what if someone accidentally committed the same error Gwen did? Something permanent would have to be done.

But how do you neutralize a rock?

--

_**Commentary: Prompt 47  
**_

_These things always seem to happen to Gwen...sometimes more than one.__  
_

_**Commentary: Prompt 48  
**_

_I really liked that DW episode ('Blink') even though the Doctor wasn't in it all that much. Guess Torchwood's going to have to call for his help. Except...that was his solution the first time around. XD__  
_

_**--**_

**Author's Notes:**

_So close! Two more prompts until 50, two 'excess' prompts after that. If you'd like the final two prompts (51 & 52) to be anything other than 'inhuman' and 'crossover', don't forget to enter the contest. The excess prompts aren't actually uploaded at the moment so I don't know how long it will be until the drabble series is really completed.  
_


	25. Chapter 25

**Title:** Tales Untold  
**Rating:** PG  
**Spoilers (in this chapter):** None, takes place post JE, CoT does not exist  
**Characters (in this chapter):** Gwen, Jack, Doctor, Ianto  
**Archived:** ffnet  
**Disclaimer:** Torchwood, Doctor Who, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.  
**Warnings:** AU  
**Summary:** Just an every day conversation (through), And so it ends...or does it begin? (have)

--

**Prompt 49 - Through** – WC 204 – 10/19/08

"You cannot possibly be serious."

"Gwen…"

"Jack, no. I am NOT going to search every single tourist center in Cardiff."

"The alien…"

"Then find some other way to find it! There are over five hundred locations that fit the description and two hundred of them are likely!"

"I'm not asking you to search ALL of them, just half."

"So instead of five hundred I have to do two hundred and fifty?"

"No, instead of two hundred you have to do ONE hundred. I'll be doing the other hundred."

"One hundred heavily populated major tourist centers."

"Sarcasm doesn't look good on you, Gwen."

"Jack…"

"Well I'm not doing all of them myself!"

"What about the others? If we split it five ways…"

"Tosh will be monitoring the potential sites for activity, Owen is studying the biological material we managed to salvage from the crash, and Ianto hasn't had formal training yet. That leaves us."

"Jack, I can't-."

"You can and you will."

"Hmph."

"Gwen."

"Well, if we focus on the less popular attractions now then we can shift the focus to the others around closing time when there are less people but they aren't closed yet…"

"Sounds good. Let's go."

"…yeah."

"And Gwen? Thanks."

"Hm."

**Prompt 50 - Have **– WC 1046 – 10/19/08

It was ironic, if you stopped to think about it.

Torchwood was notorious for having a high mortality rate; members did not quit or retire, they were killed. Their bodies went into the freezer if there was enough left. If there wasn't then it was just their possessions that were packed away and forgotten by the world.

Jack thought he was the only agent immune to this law and only because he could not be killed. Some called him immortal but that was a word he personally avoided for several reasons. One, it scared the hell out of him; who would want to live forever? Two, he was still slowly aging which implied that someday, possibly millennia in the future, he would be capable of dying of old age. And three, he still _died _all the time; it just never stuck. Thanks to the time vortex, he couldn't escape life.

But, while he was the first to be taken by a force as massive as the time vortex, he wasn't the last.

What happened was nobody's fault, not really. Jack would blame the Doctor for several hundred years and the Doctor would blame himself for twice as long but, really, they were barely even part of it.

It was Gwen's personal decision to help the Doctor when he was shot with a molecular destabilization ray, something that would break him down to his component elements without hope of regeneration. She didn't take the energy into herself but she leant him the energy flowing through her body, a result of living and working over a dimensional weakness, the rift, her entire life.

The Doctor used her energy to heal himself but was unable to stop the backlash. Her body was pelted with vortex energy and regeneration energy, the natural result of his body trying to heal himself.

It was a combination no human could survive.

When Ianto heard her scream, he yelled for Jack then ran to her assistance. At the sight of Gwen in a fetal position on the floor, glowing alternately white, gold, and orange, he ran to her side. The Doctor tried to keep him away, to tell him that touching her would simply do the same to him, but he didn't listen.

It took mere moments for Jack to arrive but he was too late to help either of them; they were being ripped apart from the inside out, clinging to each other as if the contact could save them. He brushed the Doctor's explanations off; he could tell they were dying and he refused to let them die alone. Both of them welcomed him into their huddle.

They shouldn't have.

Jack's personal energy had evolved over time from pure time vortex energy to something more constant and stable, the energy of a fixed point. It was the energy Gallifrey had contained (and still does, but that is a story for another day) and the energy that every fixed event contributes to by its very existence.

It was powerful but next to the other energy already in play, Jack thought it was inconsequential.

He was nearly right; it would have done nothing on its own. But it wasn't on its own. The other energy combined with it, using it as a conduit to preserve the host bodies, to continue the circuit that was keeping it in the living world. The fixed point energy gave the unstable vortex and rift energy focus, pulling it away from destroying the humans and pushing it towards prolonging their longevity.

When the process was complete, the Doctor was the only one in the room still conscious and he was pressed into the wall as far away from the other three as possible, forced there by the arcing energy and concussion blasts generated during the settling.

He knew what had happened and that there was nothing he could do about it. The team would want explanations when they woke up but not any he was comfortable giving. So he followed a time honored tradition, the same one he followed the first time Jack died.

He ran.

When the team woke up, the Doctor and the TARDIS were gone. Jack was too happy that they were alive to doubt the Doctor's reasoning; he pushed out lingering doubts by justifying that the Doctor had saved his team's lives. Ianto and Gwen went along with it but both knew something was different; they could feel it in the way the rift seemed to flow through their skin and Jack's manufactured truths fell hollow even though he believed them.

When the truth came out some months later, it was ugly.

Jack called Martha first, then the Doctor to demand an explanation. The Doctor would not come but he told Jack that immortality was only the tip of the iceberg. At that, Martha searched harder and came up with startling results.

Both agents were immortal but neither was a fixed point.

When Jack died, he had been tied to the time vortex and eventually generated fixed point energy. In Gwen and Ianto, the fixed point energy fused together rift and vortex energy, tying them to the rift. They were not generating any of their own energy; they were feeding off what came through the rift. Since the three forces were keeping each other in check, if one decreased or increased without the other two it would destabilize and destroy the host body from the inside. They would die just as they almost had that night with the Doctor. Worse, the destruction would be explosive and probably take out a good kilometer in every direction if it happened.

Their bodies needed a plentiful source of vortex and rift energy as much as food or water.

That meant they needed to live over the rift, the only source of such energy on earth and the only source in the universe they knew was strong enough.

Ianto and Gwen would be Torchwood as long as the rift was active without the promised release of death or even Jack's occasional trips off planet.

It was ironic indeed that the organization known for killing off its agents managed to acquire three immortal ones, two of which would never be able to leave.

The universe has a bitter sense of humor.

--

FIN

--

_**Commentary: Prompt 49  
**_

_I didn't have any original ideas so I just wrote some character interaction. It works.__  
_

_**Commentary: Prompt 50  
**_

_I thought this was a fitting end.__  
_

_**--**_

**Author's Notes:**

For some reason, I absolutely adore that final drabble. This is the end of the official drabble series. There will be one more chapter with excess (if someone enters the contest, or if they don't then a few clips I have lying around).

Hope you all enjoyed reading.


	26. Chapter 26

**Title: **Tales Untold**  
Rating: **PG**  
Spoilers (in this chapter): **Nada**  
Characters (in this chapter): **Gwen, Ianto, Jack (…sort of), Crossover guest**  
Archived: **ffnet**  
Disclaimer: **Torchwood, Doctor Who, the crossover verse, and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.**  
Warnings: **AU, crossover**  
Summary: **A very torchwood problem (non-human), and a human solution to a not-so human problem (that is unrelated to that in the other drabble. These TW folks sure do get around, don't they?) (crossover).

**Prompt 51 - Non-Human **– WC 429 – 3/12/08

The first thing Gwen realized when she woke up was that she had a splitting headache. She groaned slightly and shifted, stopping the motion when it caused ripples of pain in her back.

Distantly, she could hear the clamor of people and equipment moving around above her.

It did not occur to her to wonder why they were not helping her before she fell back into unconsciousness.

The next time Gwen woke up, the headache had dulled to an irrepressible itch at the back of her skull; one she knew would blossom into pain if she touched it.

A quick surveillance of her surroundings revealed that she was lying on her stomach under some kind of awning in an alley, alone. The reek of garbage, most likely from a nearby dumpster, and the sticky rough texture of the ground was enough to ascertain the facts.

But where was the team? Jack wouldn't just leave her here. A prank? No, not even Owen was cranky enough to leave her in these conditions.

And how on earth had she gotten under an awning?

Confused, but not yet awake enough to be frightened, Gwen attempted to stand up.

And failed.

Her body felt _wrong_ somehow; almost as if her limbs were the wrong shape and her center of gravity was in a whole different place.

The first vestige of panic began to worm its way into her mind. Had she been injured worse than she thought? Was something wrong with her brain? What if she was paraplegic? Or worse, what if something 'Torchwoody' had happened?

Why had the team left her here? Her mind kept coming back to this, the most worrying question. She _knew_ none of them would leave her behind of their own free will.

Hesitantly, scared of what she might find, she looked down at her right hand.

But there were no hand to look at.

Instead, there was a furry black paw with four digits and _claws_.

_Bollocks._

It took Gwen a long, long time to pull herself out from under the dumpster. Not because she was scared or imbalanced but simply because she could not get her body to work right.

Further examination of the body she was in had revealed that the paw belonged to a darkly colored female cat, presumably black, with three notches on her right ear and a slight limp in her left hind leg.

_I'm a cat. _Gwen was still dazed, both from the headache and the revelation. _I'm a __stray__ cat. Why would that thing transform me into a stray cat?_

**Prompt 52 - Viewer's Choice (Crossover with House)** – WC 501- 10/7/08

"What do you think? Should we let him do it?"

Ianto shrugged, momentarily pulling his gaze from Jack's still form to look at Gwen. "It might work. Maybe."

"Jack is human. Well, mostly."

"The problem might not be."

She didn't answer, just sighed and sank into the visitor's chair at Ianto's side, resting her head on her arms and looking at their boss.

Ianto put a comforting hand on her shoulder and she leaned into it gratefully. They stood like that, sharing their worry for the man in front of them for a long moment.

"Hey! Itchy and Scratchy!"

Both of them tensed. Gwen grit her teeth and Ianto brought one hand up to massage the irritation lines on his forehead. Jack's 'best hope' was enough to drive any sane person to murder.

Lucky for him, neither Torchwood agent was totally sane.

"Well? I don't have all day. I've get plenty of other aliens to dissect."

"We're thinking about it."

"Well, hurry up!"

"Doctor House-"

"Yes Jeeves?"

"Go. Away."

He didn't. Of COURSE not.

"Why Jeeves! You appear to have grown a backbone!"

This time it was Gwen that opened her mouth to respond and she was obviously not planning to be as polite as Ianto. Thankfully, back up arrived before she could irreparably offend him.

"Gwen! Lovey?"

"Rhys?"

"…'Lovey'?" both agents sent the doctor nasty glares as Rhys bounded into the room. It was mere chance that he had been caught by the beam with them and he was having the time of his life. Gwen would much rather he was at home so she wouldn't have to worry about him and Ianto was tolerating his presence.

"Who're you?"

"Doctor House. Who're you?"

"Rhys Williams." He stuck his hand out but the doctor simply stared at it as if it was a diseased animal getting ready to bite him. Rhys' smile slowly fell as House allowed the awkward silence to grow. Eventually he dropped his hand and rubbed it awkwardly on his jeans.

"Rhys, what are you doing here?"

"Thought you could use some company, luv." He kissed Gwen on the cheek despite her obvious discomfort, and then moved further into the room. As he got closer to the body in the bed Ianto became tenser.

"How's he doing?"

"The same as before." Ianto liked Rhys well enough but it was his opinion that the civilian had no justification for being there, especially since Jack barely tolerated him when awake.

Gwen agreed.

"Rhys, could you go to the cafeteria and find out the menu? We haven't eaten in a while."

"Sure Luv." With a last kiss on her forehead, he disappeared into the hallway to the noticeable relief of everyone in the room.

"Does he know where it is?"

"I don't think so. That should keep him occupied for a while."

Ianto nodded gratefully.

Doctor House had remained silent during the exchange, surprisingly. But that was not to last.

"So, that the ball and chain?"

"Doctor House?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

**FIN.**

_**Commentary: Prompt 51**_

I actually have several 'mini fics' around this theme. _Felis Leo Noterra _spawned from one, and a different 'verse from another. I enjoyed this concept but never felt the need to flesh out the story much.

_**Commentary: Prompt 52**_

I'm not really sure where this one came from…I've only seen two or three episodes of House and I have no idea if I characterized him correctly. I'm also not sure about Rhys in such a situation. Ah, well…perhaps I've read one too many DW/House crossovers.

**Author's Notes:**

Since no one guessed the song or the other crossover, I just chose my favorite of the TW drabbles I've done over the years. (The song was "My Immortal" [I thought it was suitable for Jack] and the other series was Primeval [the 'portal of broken glass' and the Silurian scorpion]).

I hope you all enjoyed these drabbles and those that have come before. Thank you to everyone who read and/or reviewed.

Adios and happy holidays!


End file.
